[Paper] Varieties of #Anticapitalism: A systematic study of transformation strategies in alternative economic discourses

by Querine Kommandeur, Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez, Maria Kaufmann, Ingrid Visseren-Hamakers. Published January 2025.

Abstract

"The confluence of multiple crises has prompted a growing recognition of the need for transformations. Economic systems, including patterns of consumption and production, play a key role in sustainability transformations. The notion that capitalist systems are at the root of current ecological and social crises has led to the emergence of different alternative economic discourses, that seek to address the indirect drivers of #unsustainability. In this article, we aim to contribute to moving the debate beyond critiques of capitalism by focussing on the paths of transformation towards alternatives. To this end, we analyse several alternative economic discourses in order to show the breadth of the debate, and to better understand the roles and strategies of various discourses in societal transformation. Seven discourses are included, of which Buen Vivir, Degrowth and Wellbeing Economy are analysed in-depth. This is done through a systematic analysis of literature published between 2015 and 2022, using an enhanced conceptual framework based on the works of Wright (2019) and Chertkovskaya (2022). Our analysis suggests that the discourses represent different modes of transformation, and that these differences exist both between, as well as within the different discourses. We argue that transformations cannot be achieved through single discourses, or modes of transformation. Rather, concerted efforts of different discourses aimed at addressing indirect drivers of unsustainability can provide the multi-faceted processes of societal change, in which they can support and reinforce one another through alliances and mutual learning."

Introduction

"Humans are putting ever-increasing burdens on the #environment, causing severe damage to #nature (IPBES, 2019; United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2015). This damage is operationalised through the planetary boundaries, showing how several of them have already been crossed, which increases the risk of unleashing #ecosystem changes on a global scale (IPBES, 2019; Lade et al., 2020). Besides the innumerable injustices towards non-humans that result from the destruction of nature, such processes also have severe impacts on structures that sustain human livelihoods, by impacting health and wellbeing, food security and infrastructure (IPCC, 2023; United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2015). These processes are driven by #capitalist accumulation, which relies on the continuous production of new frontiers of accumulation, often through the #exploitation of #MarginalizedCommunities and nature (Moore, 2017). These adverse impacts on nature and people disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people and systems (IPCC, 2023).

"While capitalism manifests itself in a variety of ways across time and place (Hall and Soskice, 2001), there are several fundamental aspects that lie at the heart of its problematic nature. In capitalist societies, societal wealth manifests itself as an accumulation of commodities, and production is oriented towards profit rather than societal needs. Such profits, or surpluses, are extracted and privately appropriated for further expansion, forming the main force of growth. As such processes rely on the continued exploitation of labour and nature, inequality is not an outcome but the foundation of capitalist structures (Brand et al., 2021; Chertkovskaya and Paulsson, 2021; Moore, 2017). The continued inability to decouple environmental degradation from economic growth has made capitalism increasingly questionable in terms of its desirability and sustainability (Parrique et al., 2019). Such capitalist structures, both material, institutional, and discursive, are entrenched in societies, including institutions and governance mechanisms such as nation states and international political regimes, and are underpinned by societal values such as the appropriation of nature and non-human animals as resources to be exploited for human benefit (Brand et al., 2021; IPBES, 2019).
This confluence of multiple crises has prompted a growing recognition of the need for transformations. Since the 2015 inception of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the term “transformation” has gained broad usage among policymakers, academics, activists, and others, resulting in diverse interpretations and literatures. Transformations imply “...changes in the generic societal causes, including institutions, governance structures, developments, power relations, paradigms, goals and values” (Kok et al., 2022, p. 8). The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) defines transformative change as “a fundamental, system-wide reorganisation across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values” (IPBES, 2019, p. 14). Visseren-Hamakers and Kok shift the focus of this definition by replacing ‘system-wide’ with ‘society-wide’, emphasizing changes in general, societal structures (Visseren-Hamakers and Kok, 2022a, p. 8). We therefore consider capitalist structures to be the indirect drivers of unsustainability (IPBES, 2019).
The notion that capitalist systems are at the root of current ecological and social crises has led many activists, civil society groups, academics, policymakers, and politicians to seek for alternative economic approaches that focus on justice and sustainability (Charonis, 2021; Westra et al., 2017). We consider alternative economic discourses to be embedded in broader transformation discourses, as they address, to varying degrees, the indirect drivers of sustainability. While alternative economic discourses are generally strong in imagining alternatives, working towards such alternatives requires strategic efforts (Barlow et al., 2022; Visseren-Hamakers and Kok, 2022b). The main objective of this article is to elucidate how various alternative economic discourses align with and differ from each other concerning their modes and strategies of transformation as presented in the academic literature. To do this, this article builds on the work of (Wright, 2019), who conceptualises different ‘modes’ of transformation, i.e., sets of strategies that have been historically important in anti-capitalist struggles. Chertkovskaya (2022) expands on this framework to better capture the efforts of alternative economic movements. We further build upon both Wright's original conceptualisation and Chertkovskaya's additions to develop the framework further (Chertkovskaya, 2022).

"This paper contributes to the literature on #PostCapitalism and transformations by providing a comprehensive overview of different modes and strategies of transformation by focusing on the Degrowth, Buen Vivir and Wellbeing Economy discourse. In doing so, we aim to contribute to moving the debate beyond critiques of capitalism by focussing on the paths of transformation towards alternatives. Through our categorization, we facilitate a more conscious reflection on often implicit approaches to change while also revealing sensitivity to similarities and nuances within and between the discourses, showing the breadth of the debate (Sandberg and Alvesson, 2021). The selected discourses are #BuenVivir, Degrowth, #DoughnutEconomics, Economy for the #CommonGood, Foundational Economy, Social and #Solidarity Economy, and Wellbeing Economy. We first provide a brief overview of these seven alternative discourses and then proceed to an in-depth examination of the Buen Vivir, Degrowth, and Wellbeing Economy discourses."

Read more:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924003203
#SolarPunkSunday #DeGrowth #PostCapitalism #CircularEconomy #Polycrisis #EnvironmentalRacism #HumanRights #Colonialism #CorporateColonialism