Degrowth: A Vocabulary for New Era

Annotation

I met the authors of Degrowth: A Vocabulary for New Era in 2013 on Ikaria Island in Greece in a Commons meeting workshop. They were involved in alternative economies, community economy and cooperativism in commoning practice. The book is structured like a lexicon of degrowth. The authors argue that degrowth signifies a society with a smaller metabolism that has different structures and serves new functions. The authors centre degrowth as an imaginary around the reproductive economy of care and new commons. After the editorial and introductory part the book functions like a manual of concepts related to degrowth. I think the book would be very useful to socially engaged artists and collectives who are involved in cooperativism and alternative community economy.

Pelin Tan

Degrowth signifies, first and foremost, a critique of growth. It calls for the decolonization of public debate from the idiom of economism and for the abolishment of economic growth as a social objective. Beyond that, degrowth signifies also a desired direction, one in which societies will use fewer natural resources and will organize and live differently than today. 'Sharing', 'simplicity', 'conviviality', 'care' and the 'commons' are primary significations of what this society might look like.