Presentation short abstract

Degrowth movements must build mass social power. However, real existing degrowth practices often exclude the groups who could form this social base. In this presentation I will draw on participatory ethnographic field work to explore some of the ways class and nihilism create these barriers.

Presentation long abstract

The degrowth literature has demonstrated the desirability and viability of a post-growth future – there are possible non-capitalist futures in which humanity flourishes. However, we are still missing strategies for transition (Heron and Dean 2022; Barlow et al. 2022). Crucial to these strategies are organisations that build economic and democratic alternatives to capitalist firms and nation states (Schmelzer et al. 2022, ch. 5). This presentation will draw on the findings of 22 months of embedded participatory fieldwork in a grassroots activist project in Hull, UK attempting to do exactly that.

One of the ‘strategic wagers’ (Nunes 2021) made by the group I am researching with is that disenfranchisement with mainstream politics provides an opening for radical organisation. Furthermore, Hull is already experiences negative or no growth, and the harms that come with this in capitalism. However, the actual processes of forming relationships and organisation in this context has been difficult. Interviews with ‘outsiders’ to the organisation revealed ways that many of the real existing practices of degrowth performed by committed activists created barriers to participation. These intersect with experiences place, identity and class to create feelings of insiders and outsiders to the political project. In this presentation I will draw on Wendy Brown’s (2019) and Mark Fisher’s (2012) work on neoliberal subjectivities to explore the challenges of nihilism and disenfranchisement in building vibrant degrowth organisations in a post-industrial city.