What does our future hold? Degrowth and the potential for social policy transformation

Abstract

Modern government policies are limited by prioritizing economic growth, a strategy that is being increasingly questioned as it is not clear whether it really contributes to the development of personal wellbeing. New theories in professional and public debated are proposing the limits to economic growth, especially with regards to climate change. These new ideas have also been increasingly influencing policies at the international level, directing them more toward such concepts as sustainable development. The welfare state faces several challenges, to which it lacks adequate response, and which stand in the way of implementing new approaches: globalization, the emergence of new social risks, the heavy financial burdens of old social programs, the European Union, with its fears and political inertia, the rise of anti-European tendencies, and the emphasis on the politics of the single market and the stability of public finances. Thinking about growth outside the usual framework, by putting emphasis on sustainable development, as advocated by the degrowth movement, which we present in this paper, can potentially lead to the development of new strategies and social innovations in existing social politics, more in line with the degrowth principles. This paper analyzes several aspects of social policies that can potentially be transformed through the perspective of degrowth: the basic universal income, the revolutionizing the care system, and the social (and solidarity) economy. We discuss how these new ideas and strategies can become solutions to the existing challenges facing contemporary societies and their social policies.