Paradigms and paradoxes : The futures of growth and degrowth
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TLDR
In this paper, the authors introduce three storylines that address the relation between economic growth, technical innovation and environmental impact, and assess if and how these storylines as guiding visions increase our range of future orientations.Abstract:
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce three storylines that address the relation between economic growth, technical innovation and environmental impact The paper assesses if and how these storylines as guiding visions increase our range of future orientations
Design/methodology/approach
The paper first explains its general outline and then explores different strands of literature to arrive at its analytical conclusions
Findings
Pursuing the three storylines in a paradigmatic articulation creates paradoxes The growth paradigm focuses on economic growth as its main goal To overcome environmental degradation, products have to be substituted by environmentally friendly alternatives, but the continuous substitution of finite resources seems unlikely possible The storyline of innovation sees technological development as a driver of economic progress, and holds that innovations allow the decoupling of economic growth from environmental impact, a claim that is compromised by the occurrence of rebound effects The degrowth storyline holds that economic growth has to be stopped altogether, but is unclear how this can be done
Originality/value
By articulating paradigmatic perspectives as storylines, a new understanding on how these perspectives can be figured as a constructive repertoire of guiding visions and not as mere theory-based descriptionsread more
Citations
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Sufficiency: A systematic literature review
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References
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Book
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
TL;DR: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions as discussed by the authors is a seminal work in the history of science and philosophy of science, and it has been widely cited as a major source of inspiration for the present generation of scientists.
Journal ArticleDOI
A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth
TL;DR: In this paper, a model of long run growth is proposed and examples of possible growth patterns are given. But the model does not consider the long run of the economy and does not take into account the characteristics of interest and wage rates.
Book
Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity
Ulrich Beck,Mark Ritter +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, Scott Lash and Brian Wynne describe living on the VOLCANO of CIVILIZATION -the Contours of the RISK SOCIETY and the Politics of Knowledge in the Risk Society.