Degrowth

Essay by @[email protected]

If you like the idea of a perpetual three-day weekend, you might be one of a growing cadre that supports the concept of degrowth: a school of thought aimed at shrinking economies and moving away from GDP growth as a metric of success, while instead emphasizing universal basic services and social well-being. The idea is gaining followers, especially in Europe and especially among young people. But it’s not just a fringe theory. A Beyond Growth conference hosted by the European Parliament last May saw 7,000 attendees, including the president of the European Commission.

Akielly Hu, Grist’s news and politics fellow, discussed the growing popularity of degrowth with Kohei Saito — a Marxist author whose 2020 degrowth manifesto quickly turned into a bestseller in Japan and beyond. (The English translation, called Slow Down, was just released last month.)

Saito reckons it is necessary to end mass production and the mass consumption of wasteful goods such as fast fashion. In his earlier, more academic text in English, called Capital in the Anthropocene, Saito also advocates decarbonisation through shorter working hours and prioritising essential “labour-intensive” work such as caregiving. In effect, Saito promotes what could be called ‘de-growth Communism’.

Cartoon by https://newsie.social/@royaards

Sorry if this doesn't quite fit this community, feel free to remove if deemed off-topic (I figured the topic of working less fit in with Degrowth).

There is a discussion of this article on Hacker News, as well.

The top comment on hackernews really nailed it: most people cannot, as they have effectively been institutionalized. They cannot imagine a world without extrinsic motivation.

I suspect most would adapt if it became reality, as that's what the Spanish anarchists during the Spanish civil war said happened when they abolished money in some areas.

There was still plenty of work to do (they were at war after all) but people were able to adapt to self motivate fairly quickly, even those with traditional worldviews.