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Degrowth: Imagination of a Non-Capitalist Economic-Political Order

Year 2025, Volume: 3 Issue: 86, 1021 - 1050, 24.07.2025
https://doi.org/10.54752/ct.1632092

Abstract

The growth-oriented capitalist system is not sustainable in the long run, mainly due to its disruptive effects on ecological balances. However, since the end of World War II, a thesis has been imposed that capitalist growth is indispensable for the progress of humanity. The degrowth approach is a significant objection to this thesis; it imagines an economic-political order that is neither capitalist nor dependent on growth. Nevertheless, putting this vision into practice will not be easy, as it seems unlikely that a will can be formed to convince people to consume less.

References

  • Akbulut, B. (2021). Degrowth. Rethinking Marxism, 33(1), 98-110.
  • Amin, S. (2010). The law of worldwide value. New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Aydın, M. K., & Çakmak, E. E. (2017). Sosyal Devletin Temelleri. Bilgi, 34, 1-19.
  • Aydın, M. K., & Ak, M. Z. (2021). Pandemi: Neoliberalizmin Sonu mu? In M. Çalışır & V. İnal (Eds.), Yeni Bir Çağın Kıyısında: Siyasi, İktisadi ve Mali Açılardan Kovid-19 Pandemisi (pp. 51-66). Sakarya: Sakarya Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Başkaya, F. (1997). Sermayenin Küreselleşmesi veya Neoliberalizmin Vahşeti. Özgür Üniversite Forumu, Aralık 1997, 5-24.
  • Boratav, K. (2019). Sermaye Hareketleri ve Türkiye’nin Beş Krizi. Çalışma ve Toplum, 2019-1, 311-323.
  • Borowy, I., & Schmelzer, M. (2017). Introduction: The End of Economic Growth in Long-term Perspective. In I. Borowy & M. Schmelzer (Eds.), History of the Future of Economic Growth (pp. 1-26). London & New York: Routledge.
  • Brenner, R. (1998). The Economics of Global Turbulence. New Left Review, 229, May-June 1998.
  • Busk, L. A. (2023). Degrowth and the Future of Capitalism: A Critical Review of Recent Literatu-re. Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis, 2(1), 1-14.
  • Chambers, C. (2021). Degrowth: An Environmental Ideology with Good Intentions, Bad Politics. Liberation School. https://www.liberationschool.org/degrowth-a-politics-for-which-class/
  • Chen, Y. (2023). Degrowth: What’s in a Name? Assessing Degrowth’s Political Implications. Monthly Review, 75(3), 160-170.
  • Chomsky, N. (2000). Halkın Sırtından Kazanç: Neoliberalizm ve Küresel Düzen (D. Hakyemez & B. Zeren, Trans.). İstanbul: Om Yayıncılık.
  • Dale, G. (2012). The Growth Paradigm: A Critique. International Socialism, 134, 55-88.
  • Daly, H. E. (2007). Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • De Kadt, M. (2023). Eco-socialists and Degrowth Advocates Should Work Together. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 34(2), 1-7.
  • Demaria, F., Schneider, F., Sekulova, F., & Martinez-Alier, J. (2013). What is Degrowth: From an Activist Slogan to a Social Movement. Environmental Values, 22(2), 191-215.
  • Engler, J. O., Kretschmer, M. F., Rathgens, J., Ament, J. A., Huth, T., & Von Wehrden, H. (2024). 15 Years of Degrowth Research: A Systematic Review. Ecological Economics, 218, 108-101.
  • Foster, J. B. (2002). Ecology Against Capitalism. New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Fressoz, J.-B., & Bonneuil, C. (2017). Growth Unlimited: The Idea of Infinite Growth from Fos-sil Capitalism to Green Capitalism. In I. Borowy & M. Schmelzer (Eds.), History of the Future of Economic Growth: Historical Roots of Current Debates on Sustainable Degrowth (pp. 52-68). New York: Routledge.
  • Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1971). The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Grossman, G. M., & Krueger, A. B. (1995). Economic Growth and the Environment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110(2), 353-377.
  • Harvey, D. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. London: Oxford University Press.
  • Hennen, S. (2022). Concepts of Justice in the Degrowth Debate. Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy, IPE Working Papers, 179-2022.
  • Heron, K., & Eastwood, L. (2024). Introduction. Degrowth: Swimming Against the Ideological Tide. In L. Eastwood & K. Heron (Eds.), De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth (pp. 7-20). Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter.
  • Hickel, J. (2020). What Does Degrowth Mean: A Few Points of Clarification. Globalizations, 18(7), 1105-1111.
  • Hickel, J. (2021). Çoğu Karar Azı Zarar: Dünyayı Küçülmek Kurtaracak (D. Keskin, Trans.). İstanbul: Metis Yayınları.
  • Izdebski, A., Pickett, J., Roberts, N., & Waliszewski, T. (2016). The Environmental, Archaeologi-cal and Historical Evidence for Regional Climatic Changes and their Societal Impacts in the Eas-tern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity. Quaternary Science Reviews, 136, 189-208.
  • Jackson, T. (2009). Prosperity without Growth. London: Earthscan.
  • Kallis, G. (2011). In Defense of Degrowth. Ecological Economics, 70(5), 873-880.
  • Kallis, G. (2018). In Defense of Degrowth: Opinions and Manifestos. Uneven Earth Press.
  • Kallis, G. (2019). Capitalism, Socialism, Degrowth: A Rejoinder. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 30(2), 267-273.
  • Kallis, G., Demaria, F., & D’Alise, G. (2015). Introduction: Degrowth. In G. D’Alise, F. Dema-ria, & G. Kallis (Eds.), Degrowth: A Vocabulary for A New Era (pp. 1-18). London & New York: Routledge.
  • Kaynar, M. K. (2021). Türkiye’nin Lanetlisi Bir Muhalif: Fikret Başkaya ile Sohbetler. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
  • Käyrä, M., & Kuhmonen, I. (2024). Institutionalizing Degrowth Regime: A Review and Analysis of Degrowth Transition Proposals. Sustainability Science, 19, 2135-2150.
  • Kazgan, G. (2016). Liberalizmden Neoliberalizme: Neoliberalizmin Getirisi ve Götürüsü. İstanbul: Remzi Kitabevi.
  • Kuznets, S. (1955). Economic Growth and Income Inequality. The American Economic Review, 45(1), 1-28.
  • Macekura, S. J. (2017). Development and Economic Growth: An Intellectual History. In I. Bo-rowy & M. Schmelzer (Eds.), History of the Future of Economic Growth: Historical Roots of Current Debates on Sustainable Degrowth (pp. 110-128). New York: Routledge.
  • Macekura, S. J. (2021). Mismeasuring Progress: A Critique of the Growth Paradigm. ROAR Ma-gazine. https://www.roarmag.org/articles/mismeasuring-progress/
  • Magdoff, F., & Yates, M. D. (2010). Ekonomik Krizin ABC’si: Emeğiyle Geçinenlerin Bilmesi Gerekenler (A. Kırmızıgül, Trans.). Ankara: Epos Yayınları.
  • Martínez-Alier, J., Pascual, U., Vivien, F. D., & Zaccai, E. (2010). Sustainable Degrowth: Map-ping the Context, Criticisms and Future Prospects of An Emergent Paradigm. Ecological Eco-nomics, 69(9), 1741-1747.
  • Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. W. (1972). The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind. Universe Books.
  • Missemer, A. (2017). Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and Degrowth. The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 24(3), 493-506.
  • Pesch, U. (2018). Paradigms and paradoxes: The futures of growth and degrowth. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 38(11-12), 1133-1146.
  • Saito, K. (2017). Karl Marx’s ecosocialism: Capital, nature, and the unfinished critique of politi-cal economy. New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Saito, K. (2024). Slow down: The degrowth manifesto. New York: Astra Publishing House.
  • Savin, I., & Van Den Bergh, J. (2024). Reviewing studies of degrowth: Are claims matched by data, methods, and policy analysis? Ecological Economics, 226, 1-41.
  • Schmelzer, M. (2016). The hegemony of growth: The OECD and the making of the economic growth paradigm. Cambridge University Press.
  • Schneider, F., Kallis, G., & Martinez-Alier, J. (2010). Crisis or opportunity: Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(6), 511-518.
  • Schumpeter, J. A. [1942] (1966). Kapitalizm, sosyalizm ve demokrasi (T. Akoğlu, Trans.). İstan-bul: Varlık Yayınları.
  • Smith, R. (2010). Beyond growth or beyond capitalism. Real-World Economics Review, 53, 28-42.
  • Smith, R. (2016). Green capitalism: The god that failed. Real-World Economics Review, 74, 19-30.
  • Sutter, A. J. (2017). The birth of ‘décroissance’ and of the degrowth tradition. SSRN Scholarly Paper, ID 3010271. Rochester: Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3010271
  • Sweezy, P. M. [1966] (2004). Monopoly capitalism. Monthly Review, 56(5), 78-85.
  • UN. (2022). Delivering on the vision of the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nations Environment Management Group. https://unemg.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/UNEP_EMG_Delivering-on-the-vision-of-the-1972-Stockholm-Declaration-Rev3.pdf
  • Wallerstein, I. (1993). Jeopolitik ve jeokültür (M. Özel, Trans.). İstanbul: İz Yayıncılık.
  • Webber, M. J., & Rigby, D. L. (1996). The golden age illusion: Rethinking postwar capitalism. New York: Guilford Press.
  • Weiss, M., & Cattaneo, C. (2017). Degrowth: Taking stock and reviewing an emerging academic paradigm. Ecological Economics, 137, 220-230.
  • Yeşilyurt-Gündüz, Z. (2022). Yeni şeyler söylemek lazım: ‘Ekonomik büyüme’ fetişine karşı ‘küçülmek iyidir’. İktisat ve Toplum, 143, 10-17.

Küçülme: Kapitalist Olmayan Bir Ekonomi-Politik Düzen Tahayyülü

Year 2025, Volume: 3 Issue: 86, 1021 - 1050, 24.07.2025
https://doi.org/10.54752/ct.1632092

Abstract

Büyüme odaklı kapitalist sistem, bilhassa ekolojik dengeleri bozucu etkilerinden ötürü uzun dönemde sürdürülebilir değildir. Bununla birlikte, İkinci Dünya Savaşı'nın bitiminden itibaren, insanlığın ilerlemesi için kapitalist büyümenin vazgeçilmez olduğuna ilişkin bir tez dayatılmaktadır. Küçülme yaklaşımı, bu teze dönük olarak geliştirilmiş ciddi bir itirazdır; kapitalist ve dolayısıyla büyüme bağımlısı olmayan bir ekonomi-politik düzen tahayyülüdür. Ne var ki, bu tahayyülün fiiliyata aktarılması kolay olmayacaktır. Çünkü insanları daha az tüketim yapmaya ikna edecek bir iradenin oluşması mümkün görünmemektedir.

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References

  • Akbulut, B. (2021). Degrowth. Rethinking Marxism, 33(1), 98-110.
  • Amin, S. (2010). The law of worldwide value. New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Aydın, M. K., & Çakmak, E. E. (2017). Sosyal Devletin Temelleri. Bilgi, 34, 1-19.
  • Aydın, M. K., & Ak, M. Z. (2021). Pandemi: Neoliberalizmin Sonu mu? In M. Çalışır & V. İnal (Eds.), Yeni Bir Çağın Kıyısında: Siyasi, İktisadi ve Mali Açılardan Kovid-19 Pandemisi (pp. 51-66). Sakarya: Sakarya Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  • Başkaya, F. (1997). Sermayenin Küreselleşmesi veya Neoliberalizmin Vahşeti. Özgür Üniversite Forumu, Aralık 1997, 5-24.
  • Boratav, K. (2019). Sermaye Hareketleri ve Türkiye’nin Beş Krizi. Çalışma ve Toplum, 2019-1, 311-323.
  • Borowy, I., & Schmelzer, M. (2017). Introduction: The End of Economic Growth in Long-term Perspective. In I. Borowy & M. Schmelzer (Eds.), History of the Future of Economic Growth (pp. 1-26). London & New York: Routledge.
  • Brenner, R. (1998). The Economics of Global Turbulence. New Left Review, 229, May-June 1998.
  • Busk, L. A. (2023). Degrowth and the Future of Capitalism: A Critical Review of Recent Literatu-re. Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis, 2(1), 1-14.
  • Chambers, C. (2021). Degrowth: An Environmental Ideology with Good Intentions, Bad Politics. Liberation School. https://www.liberationschool.org/degrowth-a-politics-for-which-class/
  • Chen, Y. (2023). Degrowth: What’s in a Name? Assessing Degrowth’s Political Implications. Monthly Review, 75(3), 160-170.
  • Chomsky, N. (2000). Halkın Sırtından Kazanç: Neoliberalizm ve Küresel Düzen (D. Hakyemez & B. Zeren, Trans.). İstanbul: Om Yayıncılık.
  • Dale, G. (2012). The Growth Paradigm: A Critique. International Socialism, 134, 55-88.
  • Daly, H. E. (2007). Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • De Kadt, M. (2023). Eco-socialists and Degrowth Advocates Should Work Together. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 34(2), 1-7.
  • Demaria, F., Schneider, F., Sekulova, F., & Martinez-Alier, J. (2013). What is Degrowth: From an Activist Slogan to a Social Movement. Environmental Values, 22(2), 191-215.
  • Engler, J. O., Kretschmer, M. F., Rathgens, J., Ament, J. A., Huth, T., & Von Wehrden, H. (2024). 15 Years of Degrowth Research: A Systematic Review. Ecological Economics, 218, 108-101.
  • Foster, J. B. (2002). Ecology Against Capitalism. New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Fressoz, J.-B., & Bonneuil, C. (2017). Growth Unlimited: The Idea of Infinite Growth from Fos-sil Capitalism to Green Capitalism. In I. Borowy & M. Schmelzer (Eds.), History of the Future of Economic Growth: Historical Roots of Current Debates on Sustainable Degrowth (pp. 52-68). New York: Routledge.
  • Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1971). The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Grossman, G. M., & Krueger, A. B. (1995). Economic Growth and the Environment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110(2), 353-377.
  • Harvey, D. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. London: Oxford University Press.
  • Hennen, S. (2022). Concepts of Justice in the Degrowth Debate. Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy, IPE Working Papers, 179-2022.
  • Heron, K., & Eastwood, L. (2024). Introduction. Degrowth: Swimming Against the Ideological Tide. In L. Eastwood & K. Heron (Eds.), De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth (pp. 7-20). Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter.
  • Hickel, J. (2020). What Does Degrowth Mean: A Few Points of Clarification. Globalizations, 18(7), 1105-1111.
  • Hickel, J. (2021). Çoğu Karar Azı Zarar: Dünyayı Küçülmek Kurtaracak (D. Keskin, Trans.). İstanbul: Metis Yayınları.
  • Izdebski, A., Pickett, J., Roberts, N., & Waliszewski, T. (2016). The Environmental, Archaeologi-cal and Historical Evidence for Regional Climatic Changes and their Societal Impacts in the Eas-tern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity. Quaternary Science Reviews, 136, 189-208.
  • Jackson, T. (2009). Prosperity without Growth. London: Earthscan.
  • Kallis, G. (2011). In Defense of Degrowth. Ecological Economics, 70(5), 873-880.
  • Kallis, G. (2018). In Defense of Degrowth: Opinions and Manifestos. Uneven Earth Press.
  • Kallis, G. (2019). Capitalism, Socialism, Degrowth: A Rejoinder. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 30(2), 267-273.
  • Kallis, G., Demaria, F., & D’Alise, G. (2015). Introduction: Degrowth. In G. D’Alise, F. Dema-ria, & G. Kallis (Eds.), Degrowth: A Vocabulary for A New Era (pp. 1-18). London & New York: Routledge.
  • Kaynar, M. K. (2021). Türkiye’nin Lanetlisi Bir Muhalif: Fikret Başkaya ile Sohbetler. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
  • Käyrä, M., & Kuhmonen, I. (2024). Institutionalizing Degrowth Regime: A Review and Analysis of Degrowth Transition Proposals. Sustainability Science, 19, 2135-2150.
  • Kazgan, G. (2016). Liberalizmden Neoliberalizme: Neoliberalizmin Getirisi ve Götürüsü. İstanbul: Remzi Kitabevi.
  • Kuznets, S. (1955). Economic Growth and Income Inequality. The American Economic Review, 45(1), 1-28.
  • Macekura, S. J. (2017). Development and Economic Growth: An Intellectual History. In I. Bo-rowy & M. Schmelzer (Eds.), History of the Future of Economic Growth: Historical Roots of Current Debates on Sustainable Degrowth (pp. 110-128). New York: Routledge.
  • Macekura, S. J. (2021). Mismeasuring Progress: A Critique of the Growth Paradigm. ROAR Ma-gazine. https://www.roarmag.org/articles/mismeasuring-progress/
  • Magdoff, F., & Yates, M. D. (2010). Ekonomik Krizin ABC’si: Emeğiyle Geçinenlerin Bilmesi Gerekenler (A. Kırmızıgül, Trans.). Ankara: Epos Yayınları.
  • Martínez-Alier, J., Pascual, U., Vivien, F. D., & Zaccai, E. (2010). Sustainable Degrowth: Map-ping the Context, Criticisms and Future Prospects of An Emergent Paradigm. Ecological Eco-nomics, 69(9), 1741-1747.
  • Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. W. (1972). The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind. Universe Books.
  • Missemer, A. (2017). Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and Degrowth. The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 24(3), 493-506.
  • Pesch, U. (2018). Paradigms and paradoxes: The futures of growth and degrowth. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 38(11-12), 1133-1146.
  • Saito, K. (2017). Karl Marx’s ecosocialism: Capital, nature, and the unfinished critique of politi-cal economy. New York: Monthly Review Press.
  • Saito, K. (2024). Slow down: The degrowth manifesto. New York: Astra Publishing House.
  • Savin, I., & Van Den Bergh, J. (2024). Reviewing studies of degrowth: Are claims matched by data, methods, and policy analysis? Ecological Economics, 226, 1-41.
  • Schmelzer, M. (2016). The hegemony of growth: The OECD and the making of the economic growth paradigm. Cambridge University Press.
  • Schneider, F., Kallis, G., & Martinez-Alier, J. (2010). Crisis or opportunity: Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(6), 511-518.
  • Schumpeter, J. A. [1942] (1966). Kapitalizm, sosyalizm ve demokrasi (T. Akoğlu, Trans.). İstan-bul: Varlık Yayınları.
  • Smith, R. (2010). Beyond growth or beyond capitalism. Real-World Economics Review, 53, 28-42.
  • Smith, R. (2016). Green capitalism: The god that failed. Real-World Economics Review, 74, 19-30.
  • Sutter, A. J. (2017). The birth of ‘décroissance’ and of the degrowth tradition. SSRN Scholarly Paper, ID 3010271. Rochester: Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3010271
  • Sweezy, P. M. [1966] (2004). Monopoly capitalism. Monthly Review, 56(5), 78-85.
  • UN. (2022). Delivering on the vision of the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nations Environment Management Group. https://unemg.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/UNEP_EMG_Delivering-on-the-vision-of-the-1972-Stockholm-Declaration-Rev3.pdf
  • Wallerstein, I. (1993). Jeopolitik ve jeokültür (M. Özel, Trans.). İstanbul: İz Yayıncılık.
  • Webber, M. J., & Rigby, D. L. (1996). The golden age illusion: Rethinking postwar capitalism. New York: Guilford Press.
  • Weiss, M., & Cattaneo, C. (2017). Degrowth: Taking stock and reviewing an emerging academic paradigm. Ecological Economics, 137, 220-230.
  • Yeşilyurt-Gündüz, Z. (2022). Yeni şeyler söylemek lazım: ‘Ekonomik büyüme’ fetişine karşı ‘küçülmek iyidir’. İktisat ve Toplum, 143, 10-17.
There are 57 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Subjects Macroeconomics (Other)
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Mustafa Kemal Aydın 0000-0002-3108-1734

Mehmet Zeki Ak 0000-0003-1271-920X

Publication Date July 24, 2025
Submission Date February 3, 2025
Acceptance Date June 17, 2025
Published in Issue Year 2025 Volume: 3 Issue: 86

Cite

APA Aydın, M. K., & Ak, M. Z. (2025). Küçülme: Kapitalist Olmayan Bir Ekonomi-Politik Düzen Tahayyülü. Çalışma Ve Toplum, 3(86), 1021-1050. https://doi.org/10.54752/ct.1632092

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