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Factor X pp 277–284Cite as

The Path to Degrowth for a Sustainable Society

Part of the Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science book series (ECOE,volume 32)

Abstract

The word degrowth has been recently used in the ecological, economic and social debate; it started being used in 2002 as a provocative slogan to denounce the mystification of the ideology of sustainable development. It now designates a complex alternative project, with undeniable analytical and political significance. It is about first escaping from consumption society and then building a durable society of prosperity without growth or frugal abundance. Thus degrowth is not the alternative, but rather a matrix of alternatives that opens the human adventure to a plurality of destinies and space for creativity, while removing the lead blanket of economic totalitarism. Degrowth therefore offers a general framework that provides meaning to many sectorial initiatives or local resistances favoring strategic compromises and tactical alliances. This project may seem like a pipe dream today but it is extremely realistic if we want to avoid the collapse of human society in the future.

Keywords

  • Bioeconomy
  • Degrowth
  • Development
  • Decolonization (of the imaginary)
  • Sustainable development

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Notes

  1. 1.

    English: The Glorious Thirty.

  2. 2.

    Proceedings published as Défaire le développement, refaire le monde, Parangon, Lyon, 2002.

  3. 3.

    We tried to develop this in the book L’invention de l’économie (Latouche 2005).

  4. 4.

    Degrowth in French.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Paris-Sud, Orsay, France

    Serge Latouche

Authors
  1. Serge Latouche
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Serge Latouche .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Factor X/10 Club, German Environment Agency, Dessau-Roßlau, Germany

    Dr. Harry Lehmann

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Latouche, S. (2018). The Path to Degrowth for a Sustainable Society. In: Lehmann, H. (eds) Factor X. Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science, vol 32. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50079-9_17

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