Schedule 9th International Degrowth Conference

The relationship between Marxism and degrowth was antagonistic for quite a long time. While Marxism criticized degrowth's ambivalent attitude toward market economy, degrowth rejected Marxian productivism. This situation needs to change, however. Today, capitalism is clearly the root-cause of the climate crisis, and it is an absolute imperative to problematize the capitalist mode of production and to envision an alternative post-capitalist society. In this context, the Marxist tradition can contribute to enriching the idea of degrowth. The indispensable precondition is to abandon productivism inherent to Marxism. However, by carefully tracing his intellectual development, it becomes clear that the late Marx came to critically reflect upon his earlier native optimism about technological progress and eternal growth, and he came to even accept degrowth as the model of a future society to which Western societies need to “return.” In this sense, “Degrowth communism” is an alternative vision of the future society for Marx, and this idea is exactly what we need today in the Anthropocene.

Info

Day: 2023-08-30
Start time: 09:00
Duration: 01:00
Room: ZV-KC-1
Type: Special Session
Theme: Keynote

Links:

• iCalendar