Practicing degrowth as a business? : Transcending binaries
(2025) p.183-201- Abstract
- With the world facing severe ecological degradation, we hear calls for radical change more and more often. One of these calls is for degrowth in materially wealthy nations, including the Nordics. Degrowth fundamentally challenges the modern assumption that economic growth is good for humanity and the planet, and therefore necessitates change in civil society, state and production. In the contemporary growth-oriented society, business is a common mode of organising production and a powerful driving force. Businesses pursue profit and growth and are therefore often portrayed as incompatible with degrowth. However, for a degrowth society to come about, everyone needs to do their part; this includes businesses and businesspersons. In this... (More)
- With the world facing severe ecological degradation, we hear calls for radical change more and more often. One of these calls is for degrowth in materially wealthy nations, including the Nordics. Degrowth fundamentally challenges the modern assumption that economic growth is good for humanity and the planet, and therefore necessitates change in civil society, state and production. In the contemporary growth-oriented society, business is a common mode of organising production and a powerful driving force. Businesses pursue profit and growth and are therefore often portrayed as incompatible with degrowth. However, for a degrowth society to come about, everyone needs to do their part; this includes businesses and businesspersons. In this chapter, we explore ways in which business can participate in degrowth transformations and be part of a degrowth society. Rather than assuming that business is either incompatible or compatible with degrowth, we suggest that there is a need for a more nuanced approach to understanding radical change in modes of production and consumption, an approach that acknowledges and transcends the multiple binaries. To illustrate our argument, we offer an example of a business that produces craft wild berry wine in northern Sweden. We conclude that, for genuine change to take place, businesses’ actions need to be combined with appropriate policies and cultural change. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/a0f73dc2-cf84-4453-9427-c529139bd7ad
- author
- Nesterova, Iana and Rennstam, Jens LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- degrowth, business, postgrowth, craft
- host publication
- Understanding Human-Nature Practices for Environmental Management : Examples from Northern Europe - Examples from Northern Europe
- editor
- Keskitalo, E.C.H.
- edition
- 1
- pages
- 19 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:86000675350
- ISBN
- 9781003481041
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781003481041-10
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- a0f73dc2-cf84-4453-9427-c529139bd7ad
- date added to LUP
- 2025-02-09 19:38:17
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 15:05:54
@inbook{a0f73dc2-cf84-4453-9427-c529139bd7ad,
abstract = {{With the world facing severe ecological degradation, we hear calls for radical change more and more often. One of these calls is for degrowth in materially wealthy nations, including the Nordics. Degrowth fundamentally challenges the modern assumption that economic growth is good for humanity and the planet, and therefore necessitates change in civil society, state and production. In the contemporary growth-oriented society, business is a common mode of organising production and a powerful driving force. Businesses pursue profit and growth and are therefore often portrayed as incompatible with degrowth. However, for a degrowth society to come about, everyone needs to do their part; this includes businesses and businesspersons. In this chapter, we explore ways in which business can participate in degrowth transformations and be part of a degrowth society. Rather than assuming that business is either incompatible or compatible with degrowth, we suggest that there is a need for a more nuanced approach to understanding radical change in modes of production and consumption, an approach that acknowledges and transcends the multiple binaries. To illustrate our argument, we offer an example of a business that produces craft wild berry wine in northern Sweden. We conclude that, for genuine change to take place, businesses’ actions need to be combined with appropriate policies and cultural change.}},
author = {{Nesterova, Iana and Rennstam, Jens}},
booktitle = {{Understanding Human-Nature Practices for Environmental Management : Examples from Northern Europe}},
editor = {{Keskitalo, E.C.H.}},
isbn = {{9781003481041}},
keywords = {{degrowth; business; postgrowth; craft}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{183--201}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
title = {{Practicing degrowth as a business? : Transcending binaries}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003481041-10}},
doi = {{10.4324/9781003481041-10}},
year = {{2025}},
}