ARTICLE Post-capitalism, post-growth, post-consumerism? Eco-political hopes beyond sustainability Ingolfur Blühdorn Institute for Social Change and Sustainability, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria ABSTRACT As a road map for a structural transformation of socially and ecologically self-destructive consumer societies, the paradigm of sustainability is increasingly regarded as a spent force. Yet, its exhaustion seems to coincide with the rebirth of several ideas reminiscent of earlier, more radical currents of eco-political thought
Consumerism, unsustainable growth, waste and inequalities continue to ail societies across the globe, but creative collectives have been tackling these issues at a grassroots level.
Based on an autoethnographic study about a free food store in Aotearoa New Zealand, this book presents a first-hand account of how a community is organized around surplus food to deal with food poverty, while also helping the reader to see through the complexity that brings the free food store to life.
Examining how alternative economies and relations emerge from these community solutions, the author shows it is possible to think, act and organize differently within and beyond capitalist dynamics.
markets to de-centralised networks which replace globalisation and capitalism. A mutation is taking place, with a post-capitalist economy in the ascendance. Capitalism is transforming itself and turning into a new social formation – which might, or might not, be a form of socialism, it is referred to as ‘post-capitalism’. This theme is considered in this chapter. 2. Capitalistic neoliberal forms of globalisation are harmful. Environmental degradation and climate change resulting from profit-motivated industrial development present a challenge to human civilisation. A
of those who supported ‘Occupy Wall St’, 45 per cent were ‘positively’ disposed to the capitalist system and 39 per cent were positive to socialism. 50 Paul Mason’s proposal is not to ‘transcend capitalism’ but to ‘save globalisation by ditching neoliberalism’. 51 His vision is for ‘postcapitalism’ – a reformed type of capitalism combining the market with a network society. He expresses fears that globalisation may ‘fall apart’ and lead to conflicts between states. Alternatively, globalisation will be partially saved at great cost through austerity programmes. 52
correctly speak of multiple post-Marxisms rather than simply post-Marxism per se . The focus of the many post-Marxisms differ according to the way in which they treat the development of capital. This project has been approached on a variety of conceptual terrains: for instance, the argument that capitalism has been supplanted by a new stage of post-capitalism, as Paul Mason argues; a rejection of the antagonistic basis of class and the primacy of the economic for a heterogeneity of processes governed by consumption and the symbol, as staked out by Baudrillard; or even
REPLY There never was a categorical ecological imperative: a response to Ingolfur Blühdorn Daniel Hausknost Institute of Social Ecology, Alpen-Adria University, Klagenfurt, Austria This is a reply to: Blühdorn, Ingolfur. 2017. “Post-capitalism, post-growth, post-consumerism? Eco-political hopes beyond sustainability.” Global Discourse. 7 (1): 42–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2017. 1300415 With his analysis of eco-political ‘narratives of hope’ as ‘exercises of simulation which help to manage the challenges of sustained unsustainability’, Ingolfur
production and economic laws) as an ‘ontological anchorage point’ (Laclau, 2011: 11) but the later joint work argued for a rejection of Marxism’s grounding in objective class relations. We can, then, more correctly speak of multiple post-Marxisms rather than simply post-Marxism per se. The focus of the many post-Marxisms differ according to the way in which they treat the development of capital. This project has been approached on a variety of conceptual terrains: for instance, the argument that capitalism has been supplanted by a new stage of post-capitalism, as
society, coupled with the renunciation of the present one as unjust’ ( Bauman, 1976 ). It opposes calls for individual empowerment marking capitalism with demands for ‘social empowerment’ ( Wright, 2010 ). As such, socialism continues to offer the most radical alternative to the competitive pursuit of self-interest around which the capitalist political-economic vision is articulated. Finally, while many prefer to use terms like ‘post-capitalism’ over socialism, the alternative they offer tends to reflect many of socialism’s core values and principles. Take, for example
). Many social theorists and historians of capitalism claim that capitalism’s survival strategy is to evolve and adapt over time in the face of the crises it produces. Moreover, many critics claim that what is needed is not to reform or reimagine a more responsible, conscious or greener capitalism, but rather to shift towards a totally new socio-economic paradigm, one capable of overcoming the basic functioning assumptions of capitalism – growth, acceleration, profit and the exploitation of nature and humans. The term ‘post-capitalism’ has become increasingly popular in
subsumption and the struggles against capitalism ’, in A.C. Dinerstein and M. Neary (eds) The Labour Debate: An Investigation into the Theory and Reality of Capitalist Work , Aldershot : Ashgate , pp 226 – 39 . Dinerstein , A.C. and Pitts , F.H. ( 2018 ) ‘ From post-work to post-capitalism? Discussing the basic income and struggles for alternative forms of social reproduction ’, Journal of Labor and Society , 21 ( 4 ): 471 – 91 . Dinerstein , A.C. and Pitts , F.H. ( 2021 ) A World Beyond Work? Labour, Money and the Capitalist State between
