Library

By: Christiane Kliemann

In his welcome address at the opening plenary of the 5th International Degrowth Conference, Federico Demaria from Research and Degrowth made explicitly clear that immigrants, refugees and their struggles must be integral part of the degrowth community: "Refugees and the other oppressed shall always be kept in mind while imagining degrowth and the socio-ecological transformation we are walking. ...

By: Jason Burke Murphy

From the text: . . . Giorgios Kallis’ keynote presentation steered me towards my provisional answer to these questions. He supports a basic income alongside the promotion of universal access to low-consumption versions of public transportation, education, and health. He sees this as a way of shrinking the destructive aspects of our economy, driven by capital, and increasing other parts of econo...

By: Vincent Liegey

Vincent Liegey answers questions about the current state of the degrowth movement, degrowth in Eastern Europe and about the European Union. From the text: These days, the degrowth movement is not interested in provocation anymore. Instead it wants to stimulate discussions amongst the people who believe that it is possible to decolonise our minds. Vincent Liegey, the coordinator of the latest...

By: Aaron Vansintjan

Over a year ago I lived in Barcelona, where I was lucky enough to witness a social movement—in large part fuelled by cooperatives, squats, and other autonomous spaces—win the mayoral elections. I had spent the year being involved with a group that studies and advocates ‘degrowth’—the idea that we must downscale production and consumption to have a more equitable society, and that we therefore m...

By: Hermine Bähr

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, social change, degrowth, sustainability science, framing, critical realism

By: Jasmin Wiefek, Bernd Sommer

Schlagworte: Postwachstum; wachstumsneutrale Unternehmen; Nachhaltigkeit; ökologisches Wirtschaften; soziale Differenzierung

By: Mikuláš Černík

Today's fossil fuel dependent economies face two main problems. Firstly they must reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to avoid dangerous consequences of climate change. Secondly, they must cope with reduced availability, increasing cost and price volatility of fossil primary energy sources, most importantly of oil and gas due to declining conventional sources and geopolitical ...

By: Ludivine Damay, Anne Guisset

In different cities around the world, one can find a lot of citizen initiatives that propose alternatives to the main consumerist and capitalist logic of production and consumption (Pleyers, 2011). They defend other conceptions of society through cooperative, networks for exchanging goods and services, collective vegetable gardens, “repair cafés”, local currencies, etc. This communication is ...

By: John Raven

The “human brain” sifts more intelligent from less intelligent understandings through successive “experimental interactions with the environment”. At a societal level, our problem is to evolve a “learning society” which experiments and learns in a similar way. The internet is widely thought to offer a basis on which to build an information-based management system. But how are good ideas to be s...

By: Valentina Guerra

What is the role of institutions in supporting the transition to a sustainable local economy? The present research shows the experience of four municipalities located in the north-east of Italy, namely in the region Friuli-Venezia Giulia. These municipalities established in 2014 a close cooperation for the development of a new and different agricultural model. The project was named "Pan e farin...

By: Jana Gebauer

Empirical studies on firm size and growth show that the larger proportions of companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), are voluntary or forced non- and slow growers. Yet, the generally unquestioned postulate is that growth is the entrepreneurial raison d’être and an indispensable (societal) obligation for an economic actor. In this spirit, ‘non-growth’ appears to be a ‘no...

By: Pernille Gooch

Degrowth has emerged as a strong slogan against economic growth which developed into a movement. But is it something new or may it be traced back to earlier environmental- or youth movements? And if that is the case what are the linkages and what can we learn from past experiences. Thus, from a perspective of imaginary and realized alternatives, and based on a strong critique of the growth soci...

By: Steffen Liebig

The paper presents a dense overview of suggestions concerning (wage) labor in the international degrowth discourse and related discussions. Methodically, it is based on an extensive and critical literature review. Both empirical results as well as conceptual frameworks are analyzed and evaluated. It is argued that many degrowth concepts tend to neglect the persistent role of wage labor and inst...

By: Lucie Sovová

The post-socialist transition led the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries not only towards democracy but also towards capitalist economy. However, there have been some domains left intact by the processes of marketization and commodification. I will use the example of food self-provisioning and specifically urban gardening in the Czech Republic to describe the position of such practice...

By: Marco Fioretti

Digital Do-It-Yourself (DiDIY) is a set of DIY activities and mindsets made possible by the availability of low cost software, digital communication networks and digital fabrication devices. Today, the most popular examples of DiDIY are 3D printing and the “Makers Movement”. DiDIY, however, is a much bigger phenomenon, with potentially huge effects on the economy and the environment. So far, t...

By: Shirin Betzler

Knowledge societies that promote equality and innovation over material wealth and production are unthinkable without modern information and communication technologies (ICT). However, there has been growing awareness about the ecological as well as economic and social challenges related to the growth of ICT, such as environmental pollution through the invasive extraction of natural resources, or...

By: Hubert Buch-Hansen, Max Koch, Max Koch, Emanuele Leonardi, Alexander Paulsson, Stefania Barca

Reflecting and continuing discussions of the interdisciplinary Degrowth research project at the Pufendorf Institute at Lund University, this special session addresses structural obstacles to degrowth by contextualising degrowth approaches in the history and social structures of the capitalist economy and contrasting them to alternative research traditions in heterodox political economy and crit...

By: Andrea Vetter, Karin Bradley, Petra Wächter, Petra Wächter, Stephan Hankammer

This is the second of a planned ‘trilogy’ of sessions on the contentious relationship between degrowth and technology. It represents the second of three subthemes of a special issue on technology and degrowth, which is currently being edited for the Journal of Cleaner Production. This special session focuses on practical implementation of technological development and innovation, which is guide...

By: Christabel Buchanan, Jenny Gkiougki

Since 2008, European political elites have deepened the democratic deficit in an effort to keep neoliberalism alive. Greece especially has experienced harsh economic conditions and political coercion. With growing inequality, people have joined in solidarity to deal with the sudden and severe rise in food poverty. In our highly unequal and inefficient agri-food system, grassroots food movements...

By: Aiste

Much of the discussion over happiness has focused on the significance of income. Some researchers argue that cognitive factors (expectations, social comparisons, cognitive schemas) is the mediating part between income and happiness, however, positive psychology suggests that happiness determines the effect of social comparison itself. We have chosen to explore the relationship between household...