IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v221y2024ics0921800924001034.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What does degrowth do in/to empirical research? Methodological deliberations on placing degrowth ‘in the world’

Author

Listed:
  • Vandeventer, James Scott
  • Schmid, Benedikt

Abstract

This paper investigates how the notion of degrowth directs our focus as researchers, which leads us to deliberate on the consequences of empirically placing degrowth ‘in the world.’ We propose to rethink methodological questions about how phenomena are put into relation with notions of degrowth (or not) – and our own role as researchers in this process. Mobilizing the concept of diffraction, we argue that careful attention must be paid to what notions of ‘degrowth’ do in/to our research practices, including their role in researchers' selecting, thinking and talking about social phenomena – as well as the material and discursive practices encountered in fieldwork. This is illustrated through engagement with two studies, which undertook research on a housing community in Manchester (United Kingdom) and eco-social entrepreneurs in Stuttgart (Germany). Analyzing these cases with a diffractive lens, we show how an attunement to difference allows for attention to be paid to the ‘translation’ and ‘operationalization’ of degrowth in (research) practice. This orientation, we suggest, can help scholars with the inevitable negotiations intrinsic to the choice of how and whether to engage with and understand degrowth in empirical research.

Suggested Citation

  • Vandeventer, James Scott & Schmid, Benedikt, 2024. "What does degrowth do in/to empirical research? Methodological deliberations on placing degrowth ‘in the world’," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:221:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924001034
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108206
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924001034
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108206?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:sae:envval:v:22:y:2013:i:2:p:191-215 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Giorgos Kallis & Hug March, 2015. "Imaginaries of Hope: The Utopianism of Degrowth," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 105(2), pages 360-368, March.
    3. Lloveras, Javier & Marshall, Adam P. & Warnaby, Gary & Kalandides, Ares, 2021. "Mobilising Sense of Place for Degrowth? Lessons From Lancashire's Anti-fracking Activism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    4. repec:sae:envval:v:22:y:2013:i:2:p:171-189 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Bloemmen, Marjolijn & Bobulescu, Roxana & Le, Nhu Tuyen & Vitari, Claudio, 2015. "Microeconomic degrowth: The case of Community Supported Agriculture," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 110-115.
    6. Wanda J. Orlikowski & Susan V. Scott, 2015. "Exploring Material-Discursive Practices," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(5), pages 697-705, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pansera, Mario & Lloveras, Javier & Durrant, Daniel, 2024. "The infrastructural conditions of (de-)growth: The case of the internet," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    2. Felix Windegger & Clive L. Spash, 2021. "Reconceptualising Freedom in the 21st Century: Degrowth vs. Neoliberalism," SRE-Disc sre-disc-2021_02, Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    3. Isabel Miralles & Domenico Dentoni & Stefano Pascucci, 2017. "Understanding the organization of sharing economy in agri-food systems: evidence from alternative food networks in Valencia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(4), pages 833-854, December.
    4. Faulques, Martin & Bonnet, Jean & Bourdin, Sébastien & Juge, Marine & Pigeon, Jonas & Richard, Charlotte, 2022. "Generational effect and territorial distributive justice, the two main drivers for willingness to pay for renewable energies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    5. Marie Diekmann & Ludwig Theuvsen, 2019. "Value structures determining community supported agriculture: insights from Germany," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(4), pages 733-746, December.
    6. G. Debucquet & P. Guillotreau & G. Lazuech & F. Salladarré & J. Troiville, 2020. "Sense of belonging and commitment to a community-supported fishery. The case of Yeu Island, France," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 101(4), pages 439-459, December.
    7. Markus Reihlen & Jan‐Florian Schlapfner & Monika Seeger & Hannah Trittin‐Ulbrich, 2022. "Strategic Venturing as Legitimacy Creation: The Case of Sustainability," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 417-459, March.
    8. Salladarré, Frédéric & Guillotreau, Patrice & Debucquet, Gervaise & Lazuech, Gilles, 2018. "Some Good Reasons for Buying Fish Exclusively From Community-Supported Fisheries: The Case of Yeu Island in France," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 172-180.
    9. Singh, Neera M., 2019. "Environmental justice, degrowth and post-capitalist futures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 138-142.
    10. Plomteux, Adrien, 2024. "Frugal abundance: Conceptualisation for degrowth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    11. Chakori, Sabrina & Aziz, Ammar Abdul & Smith, Carl & Dargusch, Paul, 2021. "Untangling the underlying drivers of the use of single-use food packaging," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    12. Lloveras, Javier & Marshall, Adam P. & Warnaby, Gary & Kalandides, Ares, 2021. "Mobilising Sense of Place for Degrowth? Lessons From Lancashire's Anti-fracking Activism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    13. Michaela Hausdorf, 2024. "What You Get Is What You See—The Mutual Relationships between Images of Human Nature and Business Model Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-15, February.
    14. Antoni-Komar, Irene & Rommel, Marius & Posse, Dirk & Wittkamp, Moritz & Paech, Niko, 2021. "Stable Schools in der Solidarischen Landwirtschaft. Ein transdisziplinäres Setting zur Förderung organisationaler Stabilität," 61st Annual Conference, Berlin, Germany, September 22-24, 2021 317057, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    15. William Otchere-Darko, 2023. "Scaling-up degrowth: Re-imagining institutional responses to climate change," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(7), pages 1316-1325, May.
    16. Américo, Bruno Luiz & Carniel, Fagner & Clegg, Stewart Roger, 2019. "Accounting for the formation of scientific fields in organization studies," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 18-28.
    17. Carol Atkinson & Fiona Carmichael & Jo Duberley, 2021. "The Menopause Taboo at Work: Examining Women’s Embodied Experiences of Menopause in the UK Police Service," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(4), pages 657-676, August.
    18. Orlikowski, Wanda J. & Scott, Susan V., 2023. "The digital undertow and institutional displacement: a sociomaterial approach," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119271, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Haridimos Tsoukas & Gerardo Patriotta & Kathleen M. Sutcliffe & Sally Maitlis, 2020. "On the way to Ithaka[1]: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Publication of Karl E. Weick’s The Social Psychology of Organizing," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(7), pages 1315-1330, November.
    20. Naudé, Wim, 2023. "Melancholy Hues: The Futility of Green Growth and Degrowth, and the Inevitability of Societal Collapse," IZA Discussion Papers 16139, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:221:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924001034. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.