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Chapter 11 Economic Organizations and the Transformation Towards Degrowth

  • Ben Robra and Jennifer B. Hinton
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The Handbook of Organizing Economic, Ecological and Societal Transformation
This chapter is in the book The Handbook of Organizing Economic, Ecological and Societal Transformation

Abstract

Degrowth seeks to achieve a sustainable society in the future. It implies overcoming capitalist norms and structures. Economic organizations have found little attention in degrowth scholarship. The existing literature focuses on degrowth compatibility without the wider structural and societal consideration that degrowth implies. Further, it is riddled with incoherences, such as a supposed compatibility of degrowth values with capitalist norms. We unpack these persisting tensions and incoherences by employing Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony and counter-hegemony. We make the case for two key systemic principles for economic organizations that hitherto have found little attention: not-for-profit and non-accumulation. These principles are complementary to, and enabling factors for, other organizational principles commonly focused on in degrowth scholarship, such as inclusive decision-making and material sufficiency. Combined, these principles describe the kinds of economic organizations that have to emerge along with wider societal structures to make a degrowth transformation possible. As economic organizations are at the core of the economy, they must be active agents for a degrowth transformation. Our analysis contributes to organizational and degrowth scholarship alike by not only clarifying how economic organizations can be compatible with a degrowth society, but also explaining their central role in enabling transformations towards such a society.

Abstract

Degrowth seeks to achieve a sustainable society in the future. It implies overcoming capitalist norms and structures. Economic organizations have found little attention in degrowth scholarship. The existing literature focuses on degrowth compatibility without the wider structural and societal consideration that degrowth implies. Further, it is riddled with incoherences, such as a supposed compatibility of degrowth values with capitalist norms. We unpack these persisting tensions and incoherences by employing Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony and counter-hegemony. We make the case for two key systemic principles for economic organizations that hitherto have found little attention: not-for-profit and non-accumulation. These principles are complementary to, and enabling factors for, other organizational principles commonly focused on in degrowth scholarship, such as inclusive decision-making and material sufficiency. Combined, these principles describe the kinds of economic organizations that have to emerge along with wider societal structures to make a degrowth transformation possible. As economic organizations are at the core of the economy, they must be active agents for a degrowth transformation. Our analysis contributes to organizational and degrowth scholarship alike by not only clarifying how economic organizations can be compatible with a degrowth society, but also explaining their central role in enabling transformations towards such a society.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. List of Contributors IX
  4. Part One: By Way of Introduction
  5. Chapter 1 Organizing Economic, Environmental and Societal Transformation: An Introduction 1
  6. Chapter 2 Transformation: For Whom, By Whom, Where, Why and When? 27
  7. Part Two: Opening Up Futures
  8. Chapter 3 Post-anthropocentric Transformations of Consumption in the Anthropocene: Beyond the Nature-Culture Divide 49
  9. Chapter 4 ‘Organising Social Impact’ Master’s Programme as ‘Critical Praxis’ to Transform the University and Society 69
  10. Chapter 5 Futures: Necessity, Experiment and the School for Organizing 87
  11. Part Three: Techno-economic Transformations at Work
  12. Chapter 6 The Social Construction of Digital Technologies: The Politics behind Technology-centered Transformations 103
  13. Chapter 7 The Transformation of Work in the Digital Age: Coworking Spaces as Community-Based Models of Work Organization 125
  14. Chapter 8 Organizing Around Affect: Control and Potentiality in Contemporary Capitalism 145
  15. Part Four: Sustainable Environmental Transformation
  16. Chapter 9 Systemic Risks and Organizational Challenges in Transformative Processes: ‘Cybersecurity’ in the Food Field 165
  17. Chapter 10 Uniting the Means and Ends of Degrowth Transformation 189
  18. Chapter 11 Economic Organizations and the Transformation Towards Degrowth 209
  19. Part Five: Radical Democratic Futures
  20. Chapter 12 Organizing for Social Transformation from Below: Prefigurative Organizing and Civic Action 235
  21. Chapter 13 From Stakeholders to Communities of Care 257
  22. Chapter 14 The Possibilities of Radical Democratic Management 275
  23. Chapter 15 Searching for Transformative Potential: Comparing Conceptualizations of Open, Inclusive and Alternative Organizations 295
  24. Index 315
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110986945-011

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. List of Contributors IX
  4. Part One: By Way of Introduction
  5. Chapter 1 Organizing Economic, Environmental and Societal Transformation: An Introduction 1
  6. Chapter 2 Transformation: For Whom, By Whom, Where, Why and When? 27
  7. Part Two: Opening Up Futures
  8. Chapter 3 Post-anthropocentric Transformations of Consumption in the Anthropocene: Beyond the Nature-Culture Divide 49
  9. Chapter 4 ‘Organising Social Impact’ Master’s Programme as ‘Critical Praxis’ to Transform the University and Society 69
  10. Chapter 5 Futures: Necessity, Experiment and the School for Organizing 87
  11. Part Three: Techno-economic Transformations at Work
  12. Chapter 6 The Social Construction of Digital Technologies: The Politics behind Technology-centered Transformations 103
  13. Chapter 7 The Transformation of Work in the Digital Age: Coworking Spaces as Community-Based Models of Work Organization 125
  14. Chapter 8 Organizing Around Affect: Control and Potentiality in Contemporary Capitalism 145
  15. Part Four: Sustainable Environmental Transformation
  16. Chapter 9 Systemic Risks and Organizational Challenges in Transformative Processes: ‘Cybersecurity’ in the Food Field 165
  17. Chapter 10 Uniting the Means and Ends of Degrowth Transformation 189
  18. Chapter 11 Economic Organizations and the Transformation Towards Degrowth 209
  19. Part Five: Radical Democratic Futures
  20. Chapter 12 Organizing for Social Transformation from Below: Prefigurative Organizing and Civic Action 235
  21. Chapter 13 From Stakeholders to Communities of Care 257
  22. Chapter 14 The Possibilities of Radical Democratic Management 275
  23. Chapter 15 Searching for Transformative Potential: Comparing Conceptualizations of Open, Inclusive and Alternative Organizations 295
  24. Index 315
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