The impact of de-growth (la décroissance) on the discourse of sustainability

• Published in: Sustainable Development and Governance in Europe pp. 48 - 60
• Main Author: Slim, Assen
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2013
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Rhine Land Capitalism; Contemporary Societies; Selective Decrease; EU Emission Trading Scheme; EU Environmental; Traditional Economic Indicators; EU Energy Policy; Voluntary Simplicity; Technical Phenomenon; UN; EU's Aspiration; De-growth Proponents; Low Entropy; Current Sustainability Discourse; Mega Machine; Entire Economic Process; Energy Resource; Energy Policy; Public Engagement; UK Devolution; UK Central Government; De Growing Society; EU's Sustainable Development Strategy; Rival Research Programmes; EU Environmental Policy
• ISBN: 1138933791; 9780415630078; 041563007X; 9781138933798
• DOI: 10.4324/9780203768730-5

'De-growth' (la décroissance) emerged as a discourse amongst academics, primarily in France, in the early 2000s. Its proponents rejected the hypothesis that sustainability can go hand in hand with growth. It was not a new discourse, as some academics in the 1990s had begun to question the accepted view of sustainable development: for example, it had been described as a '[programmed] mythology' (Perrot et al. 1992: 125), and 'one of the most damaging [of] concepts' (Georgescu-Roegen 1991: 53). However, in the early 2000s the proponents of the de-growth view drew together a wider group of people from various academic disciplines and backgrounds. Whilst there was some commonality amongst their views, the emerging discourse was not unified. For instance, Flipo identified five trends within the debate which had quite strong contradictions between them (Flipo 2009: 27).