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18 Degrowth and Psychoanalysis: From Transition to Transformation

  • Shivani Kaul and Julien-François Gerber
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De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth
This chapter is in the book De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth

Abstract

Multiple foundational concepts and authors cited as precursors to degrowth have roots in psychoanalysis - from statements like ‘decolonising the imaginary’ to assumptions about alienation, fantasies or desire. Today these strains are faint, as the contemporary degrowth research programme flourishes among ecological economists. What could a return to the psychoanalytic roots of degrowth do for research and praxis in an era of ‘bullshit jobs,’ burnout, and climate grief? In this chapter, we return to the multiple, and at times opposed, repertoires of psychoanalysis that have informed degrowth thinking to deepen its analysis of growthist society. In doing so, we differentiate between discourses of human nature and offer tools for enriching post-growth subjectivities. We review three psychoanalytic contributions to degrowth from established Vienna, Frankfurt and Paris repertoires and amplify the contributions of psychoanalytic theory situated in London, Zurich and Martinique. The aim is to help understand the persistence of repression, alienation and repetition compulsion in personal and collective life - as well as the possibility of their transformation towards post-growth subjectivities. From this position, we observe that the psychodynamics of growthism are more complex than what many ecological economists (and some degrowthers) tend to acknowledge. We argue for the urgency of regenerating degrowth authors’ images of human nature through the repertoires of feminist, ecosocial and anti-colonial psychoanalytic authors - in service of a more reflexive, radical and sustainable pace of degrowth transformation, including in academia.

Abstract

Multiple foundational concepts and authors cited as precursors to degrowth have roots in psychoanalysis - from statements like ‘decolonising the imaginary’ to assumptions about alienation, fantasies or desire. Today these strains are faint, as the contemporary degrowth research programme flourishes among ecological economists. What could a return to the psychoanalytic roots of degrowth do for research and praxis in an era of ‘bullshit jobs,’ burnout, and climate grief? In this chapter, we return to the multiple, and at times opposed, repertoires of psychoanalysis that have informed degrowth thinking to deepen its analysis of growthist society. In doing so, we differentiate between discourses of human nature and offer tools for enriching post-growth subjectivities. We review three psychoanalytic contributions to degrowth from established Vienna, Frankfurt and Paris repertoires and amplify the contributions of psychoanalytic theory situated in London, Zurich and Martinique. The aim is to help understand the persistence of repression, alienation and repetition compulsion in personal and collective life - as well as the possibility of their transformation towards post-growth subjectivities. From this position, we observe that the psychodynamics of growthism are more complex than what many ecological economists (and some degrowthers) tend to acknowledge. We argue for the urgency of regenerating degrowth authors’ images of human nature through the repertoires of feminist, ecosocial and anti-colonial psychoanalytic authors - in service of a more reflexive, radical and sustainable pace of degrowth transformation, including in academia.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. List of Contributors XIII
  5. Foreword 1
  6. Introduction – Degrowth: Swimming Against the Ideological Tide 7
  7. Part I: Degrowth Agendas
  8. Introduction 23
  9. 1 ‘Without Growth, Everything is Nothing’: On the Origins of Growthism 25
  10. 2 Degrowth: Monetary and Nonmonetary Economies 41
  11. 3 Critiques of Work: The Radical Roots of Degrowth 55
  12. 4 Cultural Political Economy and Degrowth Politics 75
  13. 5 Sustainable Welfare: Decoupling Welfare from Growth and Prioritising Needs Satisfaction for All 89
  14. Part II: Degrowth in Practice
  15. Introduction 107
  16. 6 How and Who? The Debate About a Strategy for Degrowth 109
  17. 7 Translating Degrowth: From Policy Proposals to Praxis 129
  18. 8 Living in Abundance: Tool Libraries for Convivial Degrowth 149
  19. 9 Materialising Degrowth Agrifood Architecture with Earth 167
  20. 10 They Want Us to Live in Caves: Degrowth and the Housing Question 191
  21. Part III: The Urban and the Rural
  22. Introduction 211
  23. 11 The Case for Solidary Degrowth Spaces. Five Propositions on the Challenging Project of Spatialising Degrowth 213
  24. 12 Urban Degrowth 233
  25. 13 Land Commodification: A Structural Barrier to Degrowth Transition 251
  26. 14 Agroecology as Degrowth in Practice: Resistance Rooted in Human- Nature Relationality 273
  27. 15 Organising Nature Through Urban Gardening 291
  28. Part IV: Critical Connections
  29. Introduction 309
  30. 16 Interlocking Crises, Intersectional Visions: Ecofeminist Political Economy in Conversation with Degrowth 311
  31. 17 Dependency, Delinking and Degrowth in a New Developmental Era: Debates from Argentina 327
  32. 18 Degrowth and Psychoanalysis: From Transition to Transformation 339
  33. 19 Degrowth Disagreements with Marxism: Critical Perspectives on the Fetishisation of Value and Productivity 361
  34. 20 Not Just Newer, but Fewer: A Bridge Between Ecomodernism and Degrowth? 377
  35. Part V: Degrowth and the Global South
  36. Introduction 395
  37. 21 From Marxist Development Theories to Their Translation in the Degrowth Discourse: Transforming Unequal International Structures for Environmental Sustainability 397
  38. 22 Radical Ecological Democracy: Reflections from the South on Degrowth 417
  39. 23 Degrowth Beyond the Metropole: Theory and Praxis for a Revolutionary Degrowth 427
  40. 24 Growing Degrowth: Alliances with Environmental Movements in the Global South 447
  41. 25 ‘For the Greater Good’– Green Sacrifice Zones and Subaltern Resistance: The Politics and Potential of Degrowth and Post-Extractivist Futures 461
  42. List of Figures 479
  43. About the Editors 481
  44. Index 483
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110778359-024

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. List of Contributors XIII
  5. Foreword 1
  6. Introduction – Degrowth: Swimming Against the Ideological Tide 7
  7. Part I: Degrowth Agendas
  8. Introduction 23
  9. 1 ‘Without Growth, Everything is Nothing’: On the Origins of Growthism 25
  10. 2 Degrowth: Monetary and Nonmonetary Economies 41
  11. 3 Critiques of Work: The Radical Roots of Degrowth 55
  12. 4 Cultural Political Economy and Degrowth Politics 75
  13. 5 Sustainable Welfare: Decoupling Welfare from Growth and Prioritising Needs Satisfaction for All 89
  14. Part II: Degrowth in Practice
  15. Introduction 107
  16. 6 How and Who? The Debate About a Strategy for Degrowth 109
  17. 7 Translating Degrowth: From Policy Proposals to Praxis 129
  18. 8 Living in Abundance: Tool Libraries for Convivial Degrowth 149
  19. 9 Materialising Degrowth Agrifood Architecture with Earth 167
  20. 10 They Want Us to Live in Caves: Degrowth and the Housing Question 191
  21. Part III: The Urban and the Rural
  22. Introduction 211
  23. 11 The Case for Solidary Degrowth Spaces. Five Propositions on the Challenging Project of Spatialising Degrowth 213
  24. 12 Urban Degrowth 233
  25. 13 Land Commodification: A Structural Barrier to Degrowth Transition 251
  26. 14 Agroecology as Degrowth in Practice: Resistance Rooted in Human- Nature Relationality 273
  27. 15 Organising Nature Through Urban Gardening 291
  28. Part IV: Critical Connections
  29. Introduction 309
  30. 16 Interlocking Crises, Intersectional Visions: Ecofeminist Political Economy in Conversation with Degrowth 311
  31. 17 Dependency, Delinking and Degrowth in a New Developmental Era: Debates from Argentina 327
  32. 18 Degrowth and Psychoanalysis: From Transition to Transformation 339
  33. 19 Degrowth Disagreements with Marxism: Critical Perspectives on the Fetishisation of Value and Productivity 361
  34. 20 Not Just Newer, but Fewer: A Bridge Between Ecomodernism and Degrowth? 377
  35. Part V: Degrowth and the Global South
  36. Introduction 395
  37. 21 From Marxist Development Theories to Their Translation in the Degrowth Discourse: Transforming Unequal International Structures for Environmental Sustainability 397
  38. 22 Radical Ecological Democracy: Reflections from the South on Degrowth 417
  39. 23 Degrowth Beyond the Metropole: Theory and Praxis for a Revolutionary Degrowth 427
  40. 24 Growing Degrowth: Alliances with Environmental Movements in the Global South 447
  41. 25 ‘For the Greater Good’– Green Sacrifice Zones and Subaltern Resistance: The Politics and Potential of Degrowth and Post-Extractivist Futures 461
  42. List of Figures 479
  43. About the Editors 481
  44. Index 483
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