Degrowth is many things: a research field, a political program, a transition narrative, and a vision for a better and different society.
Beginning in the 1970’s, the Marxist political ecologist Andre Gorz first used the term during a debate where Gorz asked: “Is global balance, which is conditional upon non-growth—or even degrowth—of material production, compatible with the survival of the (capitalist) system?” Coupled with the popularity of the 1972 Limits to Growth report, the economic growth imperative had finally become a question of scientific inquiry and political scrutiny. Gorz’s passing remark took a couple of decades to become part of the environmental lexicon, when in the early 2000s conferences, books, and even political parties launched that had an explicit degrowth ethos, mainly in Europe. This was just the beginning of the degrowth movement.
Today, the degrowth movement is at its strongest point yet. Degrowth has been featured in two of the most authoritative scientific bodies on the planet, the IPCC and IPBES, as possible green transition narratives to the current “green growth” paradigm due to the lack of evidence for the feasibility of green growth. Politicians in Europe, The United States, Latin America, and elsewhere have embraced degrowth insights and even explicitly called for a degrowth transition. Many of the world’s citizens assemblies have also embraced degrowth policies, including shortening the work week, a public job guarantee, reducing energy and material throughput, and popularizing the idea of degrowth among its citizens. As of 2023, the European Parliament held the Beyond Growth Conference, and Jason Hickel, one of the degrowth movements clearest communicators and strongest supporters, spoke to the Dutch Parliament about the need for degrowth. Degrowth is growing.
While there is no “one definition” of degrowth, much of the movement has common concerns and a shared understanding of the degrowth framework. At its simplest, degrowth is an equitable transition for reducing the material and energy throughput of the Global North and the world’s wealthy in order to increase equality between and within countries, promote social and environmental justice, and envision a new and better society, all while living within planetary boundaries. As Ruhila Gupta describes it, “Degrowth emphasizes a time-rich society of solidarity, equality and mutual care, redistribution of resources and proper democracy based on extended political participation – all ways of living proven to enhance well-being rather than anxiety-producing materialism.” Degrowth is explicitly anti-capitalist, embracing schools of thought such as Marxism, ecosocialism, social ecology, ecological economics, environmental justice, and many other research and activist fields across the Global North and South. As The Future is Degrowth (2022) authors point out, “degrowth must be understood as a holistic term that both draws from a wider tradition of critical thought and offers a new framework that is indispensable for overcoming the crises we face.”
It is important to recognize where growth comes from. Economic growth, often measured in the abstract mathematical formulation GDP or “Gross Domestic Product”, is a deeply material process in which land, labor, and energy are extracted and turned into commodities to help firms make a profit. Degrowth recognizes that much of the Global North’s gains in growth happen on the backs and lands of those in the Global South. For example, research has found that nearly 40 percent of rich nations’ material footprint comes from outside their own borders. In addition, scientists have calculated that from 1990 – 2015, the Global North appropriated $242 trillion from the South in natural resources, energy, and labor. This makes the question of economic growth, capitalist appropriation, and ecological transition a politics of global justice and equity. Likewise, workers in the United States are also susceptible to economic exploitation. Rather than provide a sufficient level of production and allow workers more free time or control over production, capitalism depends on workers producing more than what is necessary, thereby draining both the resources used in production and the wellbeing of those who do the work. Capitalism fundamentally depends on exploiting nature and labor.
It is increasingly clear that without dramatic shifts to existing systems, our civilization is headed towards imminent ecological collapse and social breakdown — each reinforcing the other. Greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise over the next decade; the mass extinction of species is accelerating at unprecedented rates, all while the conditions for a good life are slipping away for the majority of the world’s population. Capitalism and its promises of “green growth” are not working. Capitalism shows no signs of being able to solve our many overlapping and intersecting ecosocial crises. In the face of this failure, degrowth has burgeoned at a time when new ideas, justice-based frameworks, and a hopeful vision for the future are needed more than ever. Degrowth answers the call for a new civilization based on ecology, justice, and freedom for all species. Join us in making our vision a reality.
Caracol DSA 