What is Degrowth?
This page presents a definition of degrowth that goes beyond the mainstream narrative, weaving together the rich tapestry of ideas, struggles, and movements that have shaped its evolution. Here, we…
Animism: A belief system that in which all living beings are interconnected without distinguishing humans and nature
Anti-imperial: Opposition to the expansionist policies and practices of dominant powers seeking to control and exploit other territories and peoples.
Artificial scarcity: Deliberately using control of resources to create a scarcity (that would otherwise not exist) in order to manipulate people into a certain behavior (e.g. wage labor) and to accumulate profits.
Buen Vivir: A concept rooted in indigenous South American philosophies emphasizing living well in harmony with nature, community, and spiritual values rather than pursuit of material wealth.
Capital: Wealth, assets, or resources that are invested in production with the aim of generating profit. Sometimes used as synonym for the capital class itself.
Capital accumulation: The foundational, expansionist logic of capitalism - a process in which capital seeks to accumulate ever more capital.
Capitalism: Our current system, an institutionalised social order characterized by private ownership, capital accumulation and separation, built on the exploitation of people and non-human nature.
Care: The provision of support, attention, and nurturing activities essential for individual and collective well-being, often undervalued within capitalist systems.
Colonialism: A complex system of domination and exploitation whereby powerful external forces assert control over territories and peoples, perpetuating structures of economic extraction, cultural erasure, and violent subjugation to maintain their hegemony and privilege.
Coloniality: The enduring legacy and continuation of colonial structures, power dynamics, and ideologies even after formal colonial rule has ended.
Commons: Shared resources or spaces managed collectively by a community rather than privately owned or controlled.
Decolonial: Efforts and theories aimed at challenging and dismantling material and immaterial colonial legacies, power structures, and knowledge systems.
Degrowth: An critique of our colonial, imperial, patriarchal, classist and ecologically destructive growth-based capitalist system that seeks to build a radically different system in which a hood life for all living beings can be achieved.
Ecological breakdown: The breakdown of whole ecosystems and natural processes due to human activities such as pollution, deforestation, and climate change - stands in contrast to simplistic terms that cover only one ecological dimension, such as "climate catastrophe".
Ecoswaraj: A concept emphasizing local self-reliance, ecological sustainability, and decentralized governance, often associated with movements in India
Enclosures: The violent privatization or appropriation of common resources or lands, often resulting in dispossession and loss of access for marginalized communities.
Exploitation: The act of violently and unfairly taking advantage of others' labor, resources, or vulnerabilities for one's own benefit. Sometimes contrasted with expropriation - the difference is that expropriated beings are stripped of even more of their rights.
Expropriation: The seizure or appropriation of property or resources, often by a government or powerful entity that entails stripping the expropriated being of all of their rights. Sometimes contrasted with exploitation - the difference is that expropriated beings are stripped of even more of their rights.
Fixes: Often incredibly violent solutions under capitalism that are driven by the pursuit of infinite capital accumulation to remove obstacles that limiting the ability for capital to accumulate more capital.
Green growth: A concept suggesting that economic growth and planetary boundaries can be reconciled through technological innovation and efficiency measures. Proponents usually refer to only some planetary boundaries, rarely ever all together. Similarly, colonialism and social justice are often neglected.
Global South/Global North: Terms used to denote the historical difference and unequal geopolitical power relations, even though it does not fully account for the diverse contexts, needs, and capacities of different communities, particularly those across the Global South.
Growth: Often used as synonym for "economic growth". The increase in economic output (and thereby in material throughput), typically measured by indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). An unavoidable effect of capital accumulation.
Hierarchisation: The distinction between different categories that privileges and places value on one over the other, justifying the rise of relations of domination and subordination
Material metabolism: The flow of materials through economic systems, including extraction, production, consumption, and disposal, often with significant environmental impacts.
Non-human nature: The realm of natural phenomena, ecosystems, and non-human organisms, often marginalized or exploited within human- centric worldviews.
Paradigm: A set of beliefs, assumptions, and practices that shape understanding and guide action within a particular field or society.
Patriarchy: A system of relationships, beliefs, and values embedded in political, social, and economic systems that structures domination and subordination through the separation and hierarchisation of humans into genders. A set of beliefs, assumptions, and practices that shape understanding and guide action within a particular field or society.