Let's take the plunge into DEGROWTH

'Degrowth' refers to a broad set of ideas converging around the basic premise that economic growth (or, at least, the version that involves indefinitely expanding production and consumption) simply has to slow way down (...or stop altogether? ...or even reverse its course?) if humanity is to avert utter catastrophe.

Some insist the idea is inherently anti-capitalist; the processes of enacting degrowth and dismantling capitalism are insoluble. For others, the aims of degrowth and socialism are overlapping; cross-pollination and debate are needed to clarify which tactics would best harmonize their concerns. For still others, all this 'degrowth' rhetoric is yet another re-branding of the same old system, designed to help capitalism adapt, survive, and keep doing its thing (for better or worse).

So which is it, o Submarines? Let us take the plunge, as is our style. Below are a few different recent perspectives; feel free to pick, choose, find your own, and/or ignore. But do join us (even if you don't get a chance to prepare beforehand).

***

• Planned Degrowth: Ecosocialism and Sustainable Human Development by John Bellamy Foster (from Monthly Review, July 2023)
• Why Capitalism Loves Degrowth by Justin Aukema (from Compact Magazine, March 2023)
• Degrowth and Socialism: Notes on Some Critical Junctures by Güney Işıkara and Özgür Narin (from Monthly Review, July 2023)
• Degrowth can work — Here's how science can help by Jason Hickel et al. (Comment in Nature, December 2022)