Vincent Liegey - Exploring Degrowth: A Critical Guide

Exploring Degrowth

FireWorks

Series editors:

Gargi Bhattacharyya, Professor of Sociology, University of East London

Anitra Nelson, Associate Professor, Honorary Principal
Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne

Wilf Sullivan, Race Equality Office, Trade Union Congress

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Foreword by Jason Hickel

First published 2020 by Pluto Press

345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA

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Copyright Vincent Liegey and Anitra Nelson 2020

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material in this book.

The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions in this respect and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions.

The right of Vincent Liegey and Anitra Nelson to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

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ISBN 978 0 7453 4201 6 Hardback

ISBN 978 0 7453 4202 3 Paperback

ISBN 978 1 7868 0759 5 PDF eBook

ISBN 978 1 7868 0761 8 Kindle eBook

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FIGURES

BOXES

Autonomy A central political concept for the degrowth movement, mainly influenced by Cornelius Castoriadis work, where agency and subsidiarity are central. Refers to the will, capacity and capability to self-define, to decide and act responsibly within socio-political limits, whether as an individual or a collective. Its opposite, heteronomy, is effective submission, or giving power over, to an external authority.

Commons and commoning Refer to co-created, co-governed and co-accessed cultural and natural resources and associated activities. The key questions for degrowth, in particular for the degrowth project, focus on creating and experimenting with new types of co-governance which are significantly more equal, transparent, democratic and sustainable than those driven by the logic of the market.

Convivial A central concept for degrowth, coined and developed by Ivan Illich. As a practice, it means a cooperative, mutual, sociable and sharing approach. As a characteristic of societies, it means that citizens (not experts or technocrats) directly control technologies and institutions, so that technologies are selected to serve the common interest and do not breach the counter-productivity threshold.

Counter-productivity threshold The point at which the human time and effort, and material and energy costs, of a technology surpass the saving made by its use in a comparison with similar techniques or technologies used to achieve the same result.

Decolonisation of the imaginary A central concept and objective of degrowth, first, as a provocative slogan and, second, as a multidimensional matrix of thoughts and theories. Refers to processes involving the deconstruction of concepts and beliefs associated with growthism in order to liberate and open practical pathways to sustainable and desirable lifestyles and models of society.

Ecofeminism Ecological feminist perspectives exploring and advocating emancipation from Western patriarchal domination of both women and ecosystems. A key principle of degrowth applied by acknowledging needs for gender equality, engagement of all in care of people and nature, thus deconstructing gender identities and roles associated with domination and exploitation.

Ecological economics A transdisciplinary field of studies addressing contemporary challenges by focusing on governance of economic activities to achieve human well-being, ecological sustainability and social justice (recently aka social ecological economics).

Frugal abundance The only abundance for the degrowth movement is a frugal one. Western productivist societies, driving to overcome limits, are characterised by over-abundance. Philosophically abundance, like well-being, is subjective and, as a desire, culturally transferable. The degrowth movement advocates for practices, philosophies and livelihoods that respect limits but are rich and full in meaning. Also referred to as happy sobriety.

Glocal The application of universal (global) principles locally.

Low-tech approach A provocation to rethink human relationships with technologies as in Ivan Illichs tools for conviviality and Jacques Elluls technician totalitarianism this means inventing, developing and sharing the most simple, local, easy-to-implement and easy-to-use tools or technologies to satisfy our basic needs. Includes questions around how to design tools in sustainable, open-source, shareable and autonomous ways.

Municipalism A movement advocating direct democracy and subsidiarity, power at the local (municipal) level, often at the expense of or in a confederated form as a substitute for the state. Murray Bookchin advocated a libertarian form. Municipalism is practised by Kurdish communities in the liberated territory of Rojava (northern Syria) and the highland Zapatista communities of Chiapas (Mexico). Influential in many contemporary movements, such as commoning and degrowth.