The dialectic future of de-growth.
Utopian fiction oremancipatory project?
Keywords:
Cooperativa Integral Catalana, degrowth, dialectical utopianism, economic alternatives, Cooperativa Integral Catalana, limits, scarcity, degrowth, dialectical utopianism, economic alternatives, limits, scarcityAbstract
In the past few years we have observed the emergence of socio-economic, political and environmental alternatives that aim to subvert the hegemonic languages and narratives that guide us to a permanent crisis. This is the case of degrowth, a political-economic and socio-ecological transformation project that seeks to "decolonize" the social imagery based on infinite growth. In this paper, we conduct a critical review of the main ideas and proposals of degrowth through the literary fiction of Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed, an ambiguous communal utopia of frugality. We use the case of the Catalan Integrated Cooperative and some of its initiatives as real-life example to illustrate the examined ideas. We argue that degrowth can be understood as a "dialectical utopia": it is spatio-temporal; it maintains a tension between the opening and closing processes; and it is eminently subversive, questioning deeply entrenched notions such as "scarcity". Despite degrowth may have some theoretical and practical issues, we argue that it can make an important contribution to critical economic thinking.
Downloads
References
Ariès, Paul (2005): "Decroissance ou Barbarie", Lyon: Golias.
Asara, Viviana, Profumi, Emanuele y Kallis, Giorgos (2013): "Degrowth, Democracy and Autonomy", [Environmental Values Vol. 22, pp. 217-239](https://doi.org/10.3197/096327113X13581561725239).
Carlson, Sheryle (2012): "Degrowth in action: from opposition to alternatives building. How the Cooperativa Integral Catalana enacts a degrowth vision", Tesis de Master sin publicar, Lund: University of Lund.
Castoriadis, Cornelius (2005): Une société à la dérive, Paris: Ed. Seuil.
Cattaneo, Claudio, D'Alisa, Giacomo, Kallis, Giorgos y Zografos, Christos (2012): Degrowth futures and democracy, [Futures Vol. 44 Nº6, pp. 515-523](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2012.03.019).
Chomsky, Noam (2014): The Greening of Noam Chomsky: a conversation. [Canadian Dimesion](http://canadiandimension.com/articles/5874/).
Costa, Didac (2013): Conversación con los autores 30 de mayo de 2013, Barcelona.
D'Alisa, Giacomo, Demaria, Federico y Kallis, Giorgos (editores) (2014): Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era, New York: Routledge.
Davis, Laurence (2005): "The dynamic and revolutionary utopia of Ursula K. Le Guin" en Laurence Davis y Peter Stillman (eds.) The new utopian politics of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Oxford: Lexington Books, pp. 3-36.
Demaria, Federico, Schneider, François, Sekulova, Filka y Martínez-Alier, Joan (2013): What is Degrowth? From an activist slogan to a social movement, [Environmental Values Vol. 22 Nº 2, pp. 191-215](https://doi.org/10.3197/096327113X13581561725194).
Ellul, Jacques. (1980): The technological system, New York: Continuum Publishing.
Fernández Buey, Francisco Javier (2007): ¿Es el decrecimiento una utopía realizable?, Papeles de relaciones ecosociales y cambio global Nº 100, pp. 53-61.
Ferns, Chris (2005): "Future conditional or future perfect? The Dispossessed and permanent revolution" en Laurence Davis y Peter Stillman (eds.) The new utopian politics of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Oxford: Lexington Books, pp. 249-264.
Georgescu-Roegen, Nicholas (1971): The Entropy Law and the Economic Process, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, [https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674281653](https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674281653).
Gorz, André (1994): Capitalism, Socialism, Ecology, London: Verso.
Gorz, André (M. Bosquet) (1972): Nouvel Observateur, París, Nº 397, 19 Junio. Actas de un debate público organizado en París por el Club du Nouvel Observateur.
Gorz, André (1980): Farewell to the Working Class: An Essay on Post-Industrial Socialism, London: Pluto Press.
Grinevald, Jaques y Rens, Ivo (1979): Demain la décroissance: entropie-écologie-économie, Lausanne: Pierre-Marcel Favre.
Graeber, David (2004): Fragments of an anarchist anthropology, Chicago: Prickly Press.
Harvey, David (2000): Spaces of Hope, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Iglesias Fernández, José (2009): Consumo y crecimiento, no. Capitalismo, tampoco. Manifiestos contra el decrecimiento y el consumo responsable. Disponible en: [http://rentabasica.net/otras_obras/decrecimiento/Sobre_el_decrecimiento_y_otras_rendiciones_parte_1.pdf](http://rentabasica.net/otras_obras/decrecimiento/Sobre_el_decrecimiento_y_otras_rendiciones_parte_1.pdf)
Iglesias Fernández, José (2011a): La Miseria del Decrecimiento. De cómo salvar el planeta con el capitalismo dentro, Barcelona: Libreando, Baladre.
Iglesias Fernández, José (2011b): Entrevista a José Iglesias Fernández sobre el Decrecimiento, por Federico Faccio Peláez, Barcelona: El Viejo Topo.
Illich, Ivan (1973): Tools for conviviality, London: Calder and Boyars.
Jameson, Fredric (1975): World-reduction in Le Guin. The emergence of utopian narrative, Science Fiction Studies Vol. 2 Nº 3, #7.
Kallis, Giorgos y March, Hug (2014): Imaginaries of Hope: The Utopianism of Degrowth, Annals of the American Association of Geographers Vol. 105 Nº 2, pp. 360-368, [https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2014.973803](https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2014.973803).
Latouche, Serge (2009): Farewell to Growth, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Latouche, Serge (2012): La sociedad de la abundancia frugal, Barcelona: Icaria.
Le Guin, Ursula (1974): The Dispossessed, New York: Avon Books.
Le Guin, Ursula (1982): A Non-Euclidean View of California as a Cold Place to Be, Conferencia en la University of California, San Diego.
Le Guin, Ursula (1989): Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places, New York: Grove Press.
Masjuan, Eduard (2000): La ecología humana en el anarquismo ibérico, Barcelona: Icaria Editorial.
Navarro, Vicenç (2013): Ivan Illich, Serge Latouche, el decrecimiento y el movimiento ecologista, Público.es, 3 Octubre de 2013.
Pinder, David (2002): In defence of utopian urbanism: imagining cities after the 'end of utopia', [Geografiska Annaler Vol. 84 B Nº 3-4, pp. 229-241](https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0467.00126).
Reynolds, Andrew (2005): Ursula K. Le Guin, Herbert Marcuse and the fate of utopia in the post-modern. En The new utopian politics of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed. Davis L. y P. Stillman (eds), 75-94, Oxford: Lexington Books.
Rodgers, J. (2005): "Fulfillment as a function of time, or the ambiguous process of utopia" en Laurence Davis y Peter Stillman (eds.) The new utopian politics of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Oxford: Lexington Books, pp. 181-194.
Romano, Onofrio (2012): How to rebuild democracy, re-thinking degrowth, Futures 44 (6): 582-589, [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2012.03.019](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2012.03.019).
Sahlins, Marshall (1972): Stone Age Economics, Chicago: Aldine.
Schneider, François, Kallis Giorgos y Martínez-Alier, Joan (2010): Crisis or opportunity? Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Introduction to this special issue, Journal of Cleaner Production Vol. 18 Nº 6, pp. 511-518.
Skidelsky, Robert y Skidelsky, Edward (2012): How much is enough? Money and the good life, London: Penguin.
Somay, Bülent (2005): "From ambiguity to self-reflexivity: revolutionizing fantasy space" en Laurence Davis y Peter Stillman (eds.) The new utopian politics of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Oxford: Lexington Books, pp. 223-248.
Stillman, Peter (2005): "The Dispossessed as ecological political theory" en Laurence Davis y Peter Stillman (eds.) The new utopian politics of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Oxford: Lexington Books, pp. 55-76.
Swyngedouw, Erik (2010): Apocalypse Forever? Post-political Populism and the Spectre of Climate Change, Theory, Culture and Society Vol. 27 Nº 2-3, pp. 213-232.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This licence allows third parties to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform and create from the material for any purpose, including commercial purposes), provided that authorship and first publication in this journal (The Journal, DOI of the work) is acknowledged, a link to the licence is provided, and it is stated whether changes have been made to the work.
