Degrowth - Theme, Pufendorf IAS

The Degrowth theme investigates how societies could be organised if economic growth is no longer an overriding social and political objective. In recent years, degrowth has been established as an umbrella term that critiques the centrality of economic growth in our societies and embraces various alternatives for ecological sustainability and social justice. A common misconception about degrowth is that it equals negative economic growth, or that it implies a return to pre-modern conditions. However, we see degrowth as offering new ways of understanding and experiencing good life.

There has been a rising interest in degrowth over the past years. The biennial degrowth conference in Leipzig in 2014 attracted more than 3000 people, including academics, activists and practitioners. ‘Degrowth: A vocabulary for a new era’ – a book that synthesises various themes in research on degrowth – has attracted a lot of attention within the English-speaking world, and is also currently translated into around ten different languages. Degrowth is an emerging and a very dynamic theme, and requires continuous multi- and interdisciplinary research. This is what we are contributing to during the Degrowth theme at the Pufendorf Institute, by addressing the five following questions:



1. What are the obstacles for degrowth and how can they be overcome?

2. What spaces are currently missing from discussions on degrowth and which themes have not been substantially covered?

3. What societal issues cannot be analysed through a critique of growth and what are the implications for the degrowth movement?

4. How can degrowth create a dialogue with other major critical schools of thought?

5. What kinds of alternative values, ideals and satisfactions can replace those offered by the imaginary of growth?