Collective Sufficiency: Degrowth as a Political Project

Abstract

The degrowth movement calls for planned economic contraction of overgrown economies on the path to a steady-state or zero-growth economy. The deep decarbonisation and resource reductions required for sustainable and equitable contraction would clearly require transformative shifts in the way economies are structured and resources distributed. This transition would also mean a cultural recognition that high consumption lifestyles are unsustainable and that only lifestyles of material sufficiency, moderation, and frugality are consistent with social justice and ecological limits. This vision of a post-capitalist political economy and culture challenges us to lay the seeds for a politics and ec..