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Less and more: Conceptualising degrowth transformations

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  • Buch-Hansen, Hubert
  • Nesterova, Iana

Abstract

While the notion of degrowth has gained traction in recent times, scholarship on degrowth transformations has yet to provide a conceptualisation that captures key attributes of what such transformations entail: (1) the reduction of some items and the expansion of others and (2) profound changes in various dimensions of social being, including in how humans interact with nature, non-humans, and one another, changes in social structures and changes in how we are as human beings. The present paper develops a comprehensive and non-reductionist conceptualisation of degrowth, understanding it to involve deep transformations on four interrelated planes of social being: material transactions with nature, social interactions between persons, social structure, and people's inner being. On each plane, these transformations consist in reducing, and ultimately absenting, some currently existing items while expanding others. The paper considers the implications of the conceptualisation for degrowth practice and theorising, focusing on top-down eco-social policies, bottom-up initiatives and self-transformation. It is found that degrowth would benefit from considering more seriously the effects of policies and initiatives across all four planes and from acknowledging diversity on each plane. Moreover, it is concluded that more attention should be paid to the plane of peoples' inner being.

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  • Buch-Hansen, Hubert & Nesterova, Iana, 2023. "Less and more: Conceptualising degrowth transformations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:205:y:2023:i:c:s0921800922003925
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107731
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Buch-Hansen, Hubert & Koch, Max, 2019. "Degrowth through income and wealth caps?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 264-271.
    2. Buch-Hansen, Hubert, 2018. "The Prerequisites for a Degrowth Paradigm Shift: Insights from Critical Political Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 157-163.
    3. Trainer, Ted, 2020. "De-growth: Some suggestions from the Simpler Way perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Koch, Max & Buch-Hansen, Hubert & Fritz, Martin, 2017. "Shifting Priorities in Degrowth Research: An Argument for the Centrality of Human Needs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 74-81.
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    6. Katharina Bohnenberger, 2020. "Money, Vouchers, Public Infrastructures? A Framework for Sustainable Welfare Benefits," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
    7. Buch-Hansen, Hubert, 2014. "Capitalist diversity and de-growth trajectories to steady-state economies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 167-173.
    8. Koch, Max, 2022. "State-civil society relations in Gramsci, Poulantzas and Bourdieu: Strategic implications for the degrowth movement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    9. Corinna Dengler & Miriam Lang, 2022. "Commoning Care: Feminist Degrowth Visions for a Socio-Ecological Transformation," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 1-28, January.
    10. Spash, Clive L., 2012. "New foundations for ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 36-47.
    11. Buch-Hansen, Hubert & Nesterova, Iana, 2021. "Towards a science of deep transformations: Initiating a dialogue between degrowth and critical realism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
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    Cited by:

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    2. Morgan, J. & Chu, C.M. & Haines-Doran, T., 2023. "Competent retrofitting policy and inflation resilience: The cheapest energy is that which you don't use," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    3. Bärnthaler, Richard, 2024. "Problematising degrowth strategising: On the role of compromise, material interests, and coercion," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    4. O'Dell, Dallas & Contu, Davide & Shreedhar, Ganga, 2025. "Public support for degrowth policies and sufficiency behaviours in the United States: a discrete choice experiment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126084, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Dwyer, Larry, 2024. "Tourism Degrowth and Resident Well-being," Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, Cinturs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve, vol. 12(3), pages 206-225.
    6. Iana Nesterova, 2024. "Being of deep transformations: A personal journey inspired by Clive L. Spash," Environmental Values, , vol. 33(2), pages 122-138, April.

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