What are the principles of de-growth economics and how does it challenge dominant conceptions of development? How is the idea of de-growth featured in the sustainability project? Explain how some social movements exemplify, or put into practice, the ideas of degrowth (give at least two examples).

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Degrowth economics is designed to counter the prevailing economic orthodoxy of unbridled “growth” that translates into “development” today and to create “integrated self-sufficient and materially responsible societies in both the North and the South.” Using a dramatic metaphor to make the point, economist Serge Latouche suggests, “Growth economics, like HIV, destroys societies’ immune systems against social ills. And growth needs a constant supply of new mar-kets to survive, so, like a drug dealer, it deliberately creates new needs and dependencies that did not exist before. To degrowth requires that change our values, replacing egoism with altruism, competition with cooperation and obsessive performance with leisure. It is in this context that the phenomenon of “downshifting” has taken hold in the North, as people take leave of the consumer treadmill and pursue a more balanced and rewarding life. In her book The Overspent American, Juliet Schor reports that 19 percent of the adult US population has down-shifted, “voluntarily switching to lower paid jobs, choosing to reduce their hours of work, and deciding to stay at home and look after their children.
According to ecological economist Joan Martinez-Alier, degrowth springs from social movement experiences of cohousing, squatting, neoruralism, reclaiming the streets, alternative energies, waste prevention, and recycling, in addition to activist-led science.