Abstract
Exploring Degrowth by Liegey and Nelson (2020) was published in November 2020 while many countries were under their second lockdown and at a moment when the full consequences of the Covid global crisis were unknown. Yet, the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020 compelled the authors to add a few lines to their preface. This crisis is indeed a double-edged sword for the degrowth movement. On the one hand, the link between human activities and global pandemics (Jones et al., 2018) highlights more than ever the need to deeply transform our social and economic systems to abate future crisis. On the other hand, the severe cut in most countries’ GDP reinforced some misconceptions about what the degrowth movement actually stands for. Indeed, the current unplanned, unequal, undemocratic and unsustainable downsizing of the economy has hardly anything to do with the qualitative improvement of life sought by the author of this book, which usefully debunks misconceptions about the degrowth movement and introduces its core principles and theoretical backgrounds. In a time of resource scarcity, climate emergency and environmental breakdown, degrowth seems inescapable. For the authors of Exploring Degrowth, this is a source of hope.
Exploring Degrowth is a short book offering a synthesis of the Degrowth debates around five chapters. It starts by introducing us to key authors (such as Nicholas Georgescu-Roegens or Ivan Illich) and positive ideas and concepts (such as the right to idleness) in order to debunk misconceptions about degrowth and more importantly to denaturalize “growthism”. It then presents a set of practices relevant to degrowth such as frugal abundance, or voluntary simplicity, and the three spheres of actions necessary for degrowth: individual, collective, and resistance. These practices lead the authors to present a political strategy of incrementally transforming our cultural imaginaries and everyday practices. The goal is to take stock of the multiplicity of social movements, each working with its own strategy, but all promoting ideas consistent with a degrowth agenda. Finally, the book closes on a more structured program centered around an unconditional autonomy allowance which gives the reader a clearer picture of what structural changes could look like.
The book is an invitation to further explore the degrowth theories and practices more than a substantial development of each concept. As such, it does well in introducing us to a diversity of concepts and explaining the extant to which these concepts are core to the degrowth debates or if they are rather peripheral. It also clarifies misconceptions and misunderstandings about potential adverse concepts. For instance, it notably warns us about the risk of recuperation of timid proposals such as sustainability which now serves as legitimizing business as usual through green capitalism. The book challenges the pervasive idea that degrowth is an ascetic movement seeking psychological and economic decline. On the contrary, it articulates the concepts of conviviality, frugality, redistribution, sobriety, democracy and autonomy that form the core of the degrowth thinking.
Yet, this synthesis comes with its limitations which could disturb a readership looking for a more thorough and comprehensive presentation and a lengthier book. Firstly, they present many concepts without differentiating between those at the core of the degrowth project and those on the margins. This can be problematic where concepts are incompatible. For instance, the idea of happy sobriety and frugal abundance are very similar (p. 61). They both praise the rejection of consumerism and the development of joyful practices with a low-footprint. While appealing in theory, critics have argued that happy sobriety is politically dubious and centered on individualistic views of society (Faujour, 2017; Lindgaard, 2016). On the contrary, frugal abundance, particularly in Latouche (2009) writings is more holistic. To what extent, then, is it really possible to coalesce movements with such diverging views? A second issue is that the authors present a view of degrowth which is sometimes too broad, as if degrowth could be an all-encompassing solution to the environmental crisis, the democratic deficit of our society, rampant inequalities, patriarchalism and so on. They rightly denounce growthism as the ideology by which perpetual growth is presented as the solution to all of our problems (p. 21). However, at some times, reading their proposal seems as if they fall in the same trap. These tensions can leave the reader feeling as though the book raises more questions than it offers answers, though that may be the authors’ intention.
Overall, this book will be of interest to a broad and diverse readership because of its pedagogical, intellectual and activist potential. The Degrowth concept is gaining traction in our discipline, including through articles in this journal (Pansera and Fressoli, 2021). The book will be particularly useful for scholars seeking to grasp the main concepts and map these ongoing debates. As the acceleration of global crises forces us to transform the content of our course, educators will appreciate the opportunity to present more provocative ideas to our students. Exploring Degrowth references various schools of thoughts and provides practical examples. It will be a precious resource to structure classroom discussions and introduce students to these debates. Finally, many critical scholars are probably already familiar with many of the concepts discussed here. In this case, I see the main value of the book as offering a quick synthesis of the concepts as used by activists within the degrowth movement. The book may not provide further theoretical knowledge to those readers but help them draw a clearer map of the current state of the degrowth movement.
