Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

An Alternative To De-Growth Pessimism

Francine Mestrum 3rd October 2018

Francine Mestrum

Francine Mestrum

Recently more than 200 academics published an open letter in support of the demands for an economic system that abandons growth as its central objective. In the European Parliament a major conference was organized on ‘post-growth’ and the European Trade Union Confederation held a ‘post-conference’ on the same topic.

The open letter contains many statements that can be questioned, since it is obvious that not all economic growth destroys nature. Care work, translations, insurances or gardening are but a few examples of economic activities that lead to growth without being destructive. If the unpaid household work of women were integrated into Gross Domestic Product, it would lead to 30 % growth … Destructive? Or evidence of the inadequacy of GDP as an indicator? While all of us can support the demand for measures accelerating the ecological transition, the demands for de-growth or zero growth are not so convincing. Many activities, especially in the service sector, lead to growth and are not damaging for the environment.

The positive element in the set of arguments heard at these meetings was that most speakers insisted on the necessity of striving for both environmental AND social sustainability.

Three alternatives

The problem though is not growth as such but the economic and industrial system. The many references to thermodynamics and the thesis of Georgescu-Roegen confirm this. The dangers for the environment represented by industrialisation have been identified way back in the 19th and beginning of the 20th century by many socialist thinkers, but unfortunately they were marginalized.

And even extractive or manufacturing industry as such cannot be condemned. I guess that we will still want to have mobile phones tomorrow, which means we will still need the commodities to make them. I have difficulties in believing we can entirely stop building airplanes. Some production processes/products may be questioned, such as nuclear energy or space travel. Activities that are now very polluting can maybe become ‘clean’ with less damaging consequences for humans and nature. What this means is that we should not condemn growth as such but some types and ways of extractive output and overall production. We need a serious debate on what we need and want and what we do not need and want for the future. Gold mining is another good example: do we need so much gold that new mines should be explored or can the existing mines suffice for the limited needs we have? These are democratic and political choices to be made.

Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content.


We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Thank you!

Please check your inbox and click on the link in the confirmation email to complete your newsletter subscription.

.

Secondly, we need to do some serious (re)thinking about our economic theories. There is no evidence at all for many of the concepts that are still in use today, such as the ‘homo economicus’, or ‘trickle down’ or ‘market efficiency’. We do indeed require other economic models. Kate Raworth has given a good example with her ‘doughnut economy’ of how the new reasoning might go. More generally, feminist economics also delivers new concepts and new insights that could be very useful for the economy of the future. The awareness is growing that production should never be de-linked from re-production. Economists, then, do have urgent work to do.

Finally, ecologists never seriously consider the social consequences of their proposals. I think it is very difficult, if not impossible, to ask people constantly to be satisfied with less: less income, less consumption, fewer city-trips, fewer cars … This was the sobering statement of the head of ETUC, Luca Visentini: Today, workers are afraid, he said, because they live in a very unsecure situation. They are afraid of losing their jobs, afraid of robots, afraid of migrants becoming competitors. Workers are also angry because the institutions that normally protect them, have not done so in the recent past. Political parties and trade unions are criticised. ‘One third of our members’, Visentini said, ‘have already voted for the extreme right. Should I now address them and say we can no longer have economic growth?’ Will it help to make them come back to the progressive part of the political scene?

Putting the social first

That statement could lead to pessimism. But what if we turn the reasoning around, as the World Bank did some years ago? Where the Club of Rome in 1972 said growth should be stopped if we want to save the planet, the World Bank said we should protect the planet – and humankind – in order to be able to continue to grow! (see also here). We could say that instead of looking at how we can equitably share the burden of the ecological transition, we can start with social policies in order to save the planet – and humankind.

The best example is housing: a serious public investment in environmentally-friendly housing can help humans and the planet. Preventive health policies can require the end of some toxic pesticides in agriculture or the use of dangerous chemicals at the workplace. Allowances can be given to start-ups for activities that promote the ecological transition. Public transport can be developed.

There are thousands of possibilities to show that not only the man in the street but transnational corporations as well can be reached with well thought out social policies.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

The most important advantage is that it leads to a positive message of ‘more’ for people instead of the moral message of ‘less and less’ that people do not want to hear.

In the same way as, a century ago, soup kitchens played an important role to convince people of the relevance of socialism, today, a positive social policy can convince them to help and save the planet.

We do not need then, to stop growth overall, but we need another economic model and a well thought out set of social policies. It is a concrete and positive alternative that will not make people afraid of the future but involve them in shaping it and making it sustainable.

Francine Mestrum

Francine Mestrum has a PhD in social sciences. She is a researcher and activist on social development, and coordinates the network of Global Social Justice. She has worked at different European institutions and at the universities of Brussels (ULB), Antwerp and Ghent. She is now chairwoman of Global Social Justice, an association working on the promotion of transformative universal social protection and the Common Good of Humanity.

Home ・ Economy ・ An Alternative To De-Growth Pessimism

Most Popular Posts

schools,Sweden,Swedish,voucher,choice Sweden’s schools: Milton Friedman’s wet dreamLisa Pelling
world order,Russia,China,Europe,United States,US The coming world orderMarc Saxer
south working,remote work ‘South working’: the future of remote workAntonio Aloisi and Luisa Corazza
Russia,Putin,assets,oligarchs Seizing the assets of Russian oligarchsBranko Milanovic
Russians,support,war,Ukraine Why do Russians support the war against Ukraine?Svetlana Erpyleva

Most Recent Posts

trade,values,Russia,Ukraine,globalisation Peace and trade—a new perspectiveGustav Horn
biodiversity,COP15,China,climate COP15: negotiations must come out of the shadowsSandrine Maljean-Dubois
reproductive rights,abortion,hungary,eastern europe,united states,us,poland The uneven battlefield of reproductive rightsAndrea Pető
LNG,EIB,liquefied natural gas,European Investment Bank Ukraine is no reason to invest in gasXavier Sol
schools,Sweden,Swedish,voucher,choice Sweden’s schools: Milton Friedman’s wet dreamLisa Pelling

Other Social Europe Publications

The transatlantic relationship
Women and the coronavirus crisis
RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?
US election 2020
Corporate taxation in a globalised era

Eurofound advertisement

Living and working in Europe 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to be a defining force in 2021, and Eurofound continued its work of examining and recording the many and diverse impacts across the EU. Living and working in Europe 2021 provides a snapshot of the changes to employment, work and living conditions in Europe. It also summarises the agency’s findings on issues such as gender equality in employment, wealth inequality and labour shortages. These will have a significant bearing on recovery from the pandemic, resilience in the face of the war in Ukraine and a successful transition to a green and digital future.


AVAILABLE HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

EU Care Atlas: a new interactive data map showing how care deficits affect the gender earnings gap in the EU

Browse through the EU Care Atlas, a new interactive data map to help uncover what the statistics are often hiding: how care deficits directly feed into the gender earnings gap.

While attention is often focused on the gender pay gap (13%), the EU Care Atlas brings to light the more worrisome and complex picture of women’s economic inequalities. The pay gap is just one of three main elements that explain the overall earnings gap, which is estimated at 36.7%. The EU Care Atlas illustrates the urgent need to look beyond the pay gap and understand the interplay between the overall earnings gap and care imbalances.


BROWSE THROUGH THE MAP

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Towards a new Minimum Wage Policy in Germany and Europe: WSI minimum wage report 2022

The past year has seen a much higher political profile for the issue of minimum wages, not only in Germany, which has seen fresh initiatives to tackle low pay, but also in those many other countries in Europe that have embarked on substantial and sustained increases in statutory minimum wages. One key benchmark in determining what should count as an adequate minimum wage is the threshold of 60 per cent of the median wage, a ratio that has also played a role in the European Commission's proposals for an EU-level policy on minimum wages. This year's WSI Minimum Wage Report highlights the feasibility of achieving minimum wages that meet this criterion, given the political will. And with an increase to 12 euro per hour planned for autumn 2022, Germany might now find itself promoted from laggard to minimum-wage trailblazer.


FREE DOWNLOAD

ETUI advertisement

Bilan social / Social policy in the EU: state of play 2021 and perspectives

The new edition of the Bilan social 2021, co-produced by the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), reveals that while EU social policy-making took a blow in 2020, 2021 was guided by the re-emerging social aspirations of the European Commission and the launch of several important initiatives. Against the background of Covid-19, climate change and the debate on the future of Europe, the French presidency of the Council of the EU and the von der Leyen commission must now be closely scrutinised by EU citizens and social stakeholders.


AVAILABLE HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us on social media

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube