degrowth
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Degrowth is an academic and social movement aimed at the planned and democratic reduction of production and consumption as a solution to social-ecological crises. Commonly cited policy goals of degrowth include reducing the environmental impact of human activities, redistributing income and wealth within and between countries, and encouraging a shift from materialistic values to a convivial and participatory society. According to degrowth theorists, degrowth is a multi-layered concept that combines critiques of capitalism, colonialism, productivism, and utilitarianism, while envisioning more c
~48 min read
Encyclopedic overview
34 sectionsContents
- Background
- Decoupling
- Resource depletion
- Sustainable development
- "Rebound effect"
- Mitigation of climate change and determinants of 'growth'
- Open Localism
- Feminism
- Decolonialism
- Degrowth in the Global South
- Policies
- Popularity
- Origins of the movement
- Influence of Georgescu-Roegen
- Recent developments
- Relation to other social movements
- Scholarly reviews
- Critiques
- Criticisms
- Ineffectiveness and better alternatives
- Negative connotation
- Systems theoretical critique
- Marxist critique
- Challenges
- Political and social spheres
- Agriculture
- Healthcare
- Land privatisation
- Dilemmas
- See also
- References
- Reference details
- Further reading
- External links
Degrowth is an academic and social movement aimed at the planned and democratic reduction of production and consumption as a solution to social-ecological crises. Commonly cited policy goals of degrowth include reducing the environmental impact of human activities, redistributing income and wealth within and between countries, and encouraging a shift from materialistic values to a convivial and participatory society. According to degrowth theorists, degrowth is a multi-layered concept that combines critiques of capitalism, colonialism, productivism, and utilitarianism, while envisioning more caring, just, convivial, happy, and democratic societies.
Degrowth is critical of the concept of growth in gross domestic product as a measure of human and economic development. It argues that modern capitalism's unitary focus on growth causes widespread ecological damage and is unnecessary for the further increase of human living standards. Degrowth theorists posit that degrowth would increase human living standards and ecological preservation even as GDP growth slows or reverses.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “degrowth” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.