Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a new era

Federico Demaria

Research & Degrowth, ICTA UAB (Spain)

Twitter: @R_Degrowth

Facebook page: Research & Degrowth

Challenges

- Gender inequalities and violence;

- Climate change;

- Poverty;

- Inequality;

- Private and public debt;

- The sustainability of the welfare state;

- Etc…

A common horizon?There are different grassroots groups and social

movements that address each one of these challenges.

BUT…

- How could we bring them together?

-Is there not a lack of a common horizon?

Degrowth: A proposal for a political project

Degrowth is about naming alternative socio-environmental futures.

Another world is possible, but what world?

What do we want?

What is our collective project?

Degrowth: A proposal for a political project

Degrowth: a slogan launched by environmental activists in France at the beginning of the 2000s.

Drawing from different political traditions, such as:

- Feminism;

- Environmentalism;

- Marxism;

- Anarchism;

- Alter-globalization,...

Degrowth: Where does it come from?

Degrowth: a slogan launched by environmental activists in France at the beginning of the 2000s.

Drawing from different political traditions, such as:

- Feminism;

- Environmentalism;

- Marxism;

- Anarchism;

- Alter-globalization,...

Degrowth: Why?Degrowth is about imagining and enacting alternative

visions to modern growth-based development.

(Sustainable) development = Economic growth

Development is a linear process, but ecosystems are circular…

e.g. Climate change

More economic growth, more CO2 emissions.

Degrowth: A definition?

1) CRITIQUE:

Challenge the hegemony of economic growth.

2) PROPOSAL: Live better with less, and differently.

Degrowth: Why?

LESS:

Degrowth calls for a democratically led redistributive downscaling of production and consumption in industrialized countries as a means to achieve environmental sustainability, social justice and well being.

See: Demaria, F., Schneider, F., Sekulova, F., Martinez-Alier, J. (2013). What is degrowth? From an activist slogan to a social movement. Environmental Values 22 (2): 191-215.

Degrowth: Why?

DIFFERENT:

- Activities;

- Forms and uses of energy;

- Social relations;

- Gender roles;

- Allocations of time between paid and un-paid work;

- Relations with the non-human world;

- ...

Degrowth: A vocabulary for a new era

- Simplicity;

- Conviviality;

- Autonomy;

- Care;

- Commons;

- ...

See: www.vocabulary.degrowth.org

Common criticisms

- Degrowth = Economic recession?

- Technology can solve everything!

- Population growth is the main problem!

- What about development countries? - ...

Since 2008: a new phase

The world won’t be as before.

The Wall Street Journal: "In Europe, as in the U.S., voters are angry at political elites and frustrated by slow growth".

Can we give this frustration a new meaning and direction, other than that of closure and phobia?

Since 2008: a new phase

The political: It’s the struggle over the kinds of worlds citizens want to create.

We live in a post-political condition, no legitimacy for dissenting voices.

Degrowth: a Frame

Framing process:1) Diagnosis: What are the social problems? Who is

responsible?

2) Prognosis: What can we do about them? How shall it be done? Who is going to do it? For whom?

→ Repoliticization!

i.e. Contesting the un-contestable

(Demaria et al 2013)

Strategies and actors

- Oppositional activism → Activists

- Grass-roots alternative practices → Practitioners

- Research → Intellectuals

- Dissemination / Raising awareness → Journalists, Educators, Artists,...

- Institutional politics → Political parties and movements

- What and who else...?

Multiple strategies and multiple scales!

1. Citizen debt audit

2. Work-sharing

3. Basic and maximum income

4. Green tax reform

5. Stop subsidizing and investing in polluting activities

6. Support the alternative, solidarity society

7. Optimise the use of buildings

8. Reduce advertising

9. Establish environmental limits

10. Abolish the use of GDP as indicator of economic progress

→ A coherent package of mutually supportive measures

10 'Degrowth' policy proposals

Some conclusions

Degrowth, born as an activist slogan, has become a frame for a social movement as well as a concept debated in academia.

Degrowth aims to repoliticize public debates.

What kinds of worlds do we want to create?

How can degrowth deliver what it promises?

The most vital and urgent task for society is imagining a world without growth.

Thanks!

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Twitter: @R_Degrowth

Facebook: Research & Degrowth

Website: www.degrowth.org

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References:

D'Alisa G, Demaria F, Kallis G (2014). “Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era”. Routledge.

Asara, V., Otero, I., Demaria, F., Corbera, E. (2015) Socially sustainable Degrowth as a Social-Ecological Transformation: Repoliticizing Sustainability. Sustainability Science.

Demaria, F., Schneider, F., Sekulova, F., Martinez-Alier, J. (2013). What is degrowth? From an activist slogan to a social movement. Environmental Values 22 (2): 191-215.

Carbon budget (IPCC, 2013)

Source: Carbon Tracker and Grantham Institute (Imperial College – LSE; 2013; carbonbubble.info)See also: Meinshausen et al, 2009; IPCC, 2013; Le Quere et al, 2013.

More economic growth, more CO2 emissions.