Exploring Degrowth: A Critical Guide

Degrowth is a philosophy and movement aimed at reducing economic activity to avert climate catastrophe, while simultaneously improving well-being. While we work and consume less, we can still increase our happiness though devoting more time to culture, community and non-monetary pursuits.

This introduction to degrowth—in concept, practice, vision and strategies—draws on select works and the views of key advocates. It focuses on how to practice degrowth and reveals its organizational strengths and challenges which are inspired by diverse geographic and cultural contexts. It explains why the possibility of eternal economic growth under capitalism is erroneous and dangerous, while also challenging the left's emphasis on reforms such as environmental regulation and redistributive social justice delivered by a state supporting economic growth.

Covering themes including horizontal democracy, local economies, the reduction of work and post-capitalism, this book shows why degrowth is a compelling and realistic project which should be taken seriously by all people looking to prevent climate catastrophe.

Vincent Liegey is an engineer, interdisciplinary researcher, spokesperson for the French degrowth movement and co-author of Un Projet de Décroissance (Editions Utopia, 2013). He is also the coordinator of Cargonomia — a centre for research and experimentation on degrowth, a social cooperative for sustainable logistical solutions and local food distribution using cargo-bikes in Budapest.

Anitra Nelson is Honorary Principal Fellow at the Informal Urbanism Research Hub (InfUr-), University of Melbourne, Australia and co-author of Exploring Degrowth, co-editor of Life Without Money and author of Marx's Concept of Money.

Jason Hickel is an economic anthropologist, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the author of ‘The Divide: Global Inequality from Conquest to Free Markets’.