Degrowth

Degrowth (French: décroissance) is a term used for both a political, economic, and social movement as well as a set of theories that criticise the paradigm of economic growth. Degrowth is based on ideas from political ecology, ecological economics, feminist political ecology, and environmental justice, arguing that social and ecological harm is caused by the pursuit of infinite growth and Western "development" imperatives.

Degrowth argues for a reduction in global consumption and production (social metabolism) and advocates a socially just and ecologically sustainable society with social and environmental well-being replacing gross domestic product (GDP) as the indicator of prosperity. Degrowth aims for social reorganisation that modifies the flow and usage of material. This restructuring aims to shift away from mainstream (capitalist) economic activity. While GDP is likely to shrink in a "degrowth society", i.e. in a society in which the objectives of the degrowth movement are achieved, this is not the primary objective of degrowth. The main argument of degrowth is that an infinite expansion of the economy is fundamentally contradictory to the finiteness of the Earth. Degrowth highlights the importance of autonomy, care work, self-organization, commons, community, open localism, work sharing, happiness and conviviality.