Keywords: Capitalism, Degrowth, Overaccumulation, Economic Growth, Surplus.

Abstract: Degrowth, as a pluralistic ensemble of both theoretical perspective and social movements, is part of a renewal of the critique of capitalism based on the ecological contradictions of this social order. It is engaging with other more classical approaches that have examined the ecological contradictions of capitalism and the material conditions for a future ecologically viable postcapitalist social order. Degrowth's approach to capitalism has been ambiguous, just as marxian ecological political economy's relation to growth as a central structure of modernity's economic imaginary is also highly ambiguous. I will attempt in the following exploratory essay to bridge these ambiguities. I will do so by examining the relation of capitalism and growth through two successive political economic perspectives, a first grounded in Marx and a second drawing on the theory of overaccumulation in advanced capitalism. I will argue that the economic growth associated with the historical period that environmental historians call the “Great Acceleration” can be best explained as the articulation of capitalist overproduction to overconsumption, and outline some analytical tools that such an explanation can provide to those interested in understanding the specific growth drivers of contemporary capitalism and their social and ecological consequences. The material presented here is the fruit of a provisional synthesis in an ongoing research effort that is being pursued by many, I hope that by highlighting points of convergence and useful concepts from both approaches, we can move towards an Ecological Political Economy of Growth and Degrowth.