The Degrowth Movement: Is This What a Sabbath Economy Might Look Like?

A new story in Vox reminds us that overconsumption by the wealthy -- a category that in global terms includes most of the middle class -- contributes heavily and disproportionately to environmental deterioration. Consumption, whether fulfilling needs or not, whether sensible or not, is of course the goal of capitalism. Many doubt that our world can become truly sustainable if our economies are not radically revised. Economic anthropologist Jacon Hickel has been one of the prominent voices promoting the idea of degrowth, a term and idea that goes back to the 1970s. In a blogpost from this month Hickel concisely lays out one component of his vision, a series of policies that already claim strong public support: "Scale down ecologically destructive and socially less necessary production (SUVs, McMansions, industrial beef, food waste, planned obsolescence, advertising, etc); shorten the working week and introduce a public job guarantee, with a living wage, to maintain full employment and mobilize labour for the transition; decommodify public goods, disaccumulate capital, and distribute income more fairly.

Other internet sources on degrowth: Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie (in English), Degrowth Vienna (currently hosting an online conference from 20-25 November) and this brief historyof the idea.

Perhaps degrowth comprises a good part of what a 21st-century sabbath economy would look like?