The Equality Hidden in Degrowth

 

In today’s world, growth is celebrated as the ultimate measure of success. Nations boast of rising GDP, corporations want to reach record profits, and individuals chase ever-higher incomes. Yet the relentless pursuit of economic expansion has a hidden consequence: it entrenches inequality. While growth can create wealth, it rarely distributes it evenly. By contrast, degrowth - the conscious slowing or reduction of production and consumption - offers a path to equality that is often overlooked. Degrowth challenges the obsession with more, proposing a vision of society where fairness, sustainability, and well-being are prioritized over endless accumulation.

The logic of inequality in growth-driven economies is straightforward. Capital, networks, and skills compound advantages over time. Those with wealth can invest, generate returns, and leverage credit to expand their opportunities further. Meanwhile, those without resources are excluded from these mechanisms. The result is a widening gap: progress rewards those already privileged while leaving the majority struggling to keep pace. History is littered with the examples of growth amplifying inequality. The Industrial Revolution created immense prosperity for factory owners while subjecting workers to work long hours in unsafe conditions with low pay. Today, the digital economy produces billionaires overnight, while millions face job insecurity, stagnant wages, and rising living costs. Growth, left unchecked, inevitably favors the few.

Degrowth offers a counter-narrative. By deliberately reducing consumption, scaling back wasteful production, and prioritizing sufficiency over excess, societies can redistribute resources more fairly. Degrowth is not about poverty or stagnation; it is about shifting priorities. Luxury consumption, speculative finance, and high-emission production are curtailed, while public services, social welfare, and environmental protection are expanded. By emphasizing redistribution over accumulation, degrowth levels the playing field and narrows the gap between the rich and the poor.

History provides glimpses of this dynamic. During periods of economic contraction, equality has often improved. The Great Depression forced governments to implement labor protections and social safety nets. Post - World War II Europe, though devastated, rebuilt on the foundation of welfare states, progressive taxation, and land reforms, ensuring broader access to prosperity. These moments were not deliberate policies of degrowth, but they illustrate that slowing down and rebuilding can create more equitable outcomes. Degrowth seeks to achieve this deliberately, without waiting for crisis to enforce equality.

Ecology and social equity are inseparable in the degrowth framework. Growth driven economies rely on excessive resource extraction, energy consumption, and environmental degradation, which disproportionately affect the poor. Climate change, deforestation, and pollution impact marginalized communities first and worst, while the wealthy continue to consume far beyond sustainable limits. Degrowth curtails overconsumption in affluent sectors, creating ecological space for others and reducing structural inequalities. By slowing production and consumption, societies can ensure that resources are shared more equitably, promoting both social and environmental justice.

Critics often argue that degrowth implies sacrifice or reduced standards of living. But this is a misconception. Degrowth does not mean abandoning healthcare, education, or infrastructure. It does not reject innovation. Instead, it shifts focus: shorter work weeks; reduced unnecessary consumption, and investment in shared resources. Public services, renewable energy, and sustainable housing take precedence, while extravagances that serve only small elite are scaled back. In this sense, degrowth is a redistribution of opportunity and resources, enhancing quality of life for all rather than impoverishing society.

Growth inherently produces inequality because it compounds advantages. Wealth generates more wealth; access to credit multiplies opportunity. High-income individuals and corporations leverage growth to acquire more assets, invest in technology, and capture market share. Meanwhile, the majority, lacking these advantages, see their relative position stagnate or decline. Degrowth interrupts this cycle by limiting accumulation, promoting sufficiency, and prioritizing fairness. It ensures that wealth, resources, and opportunities are not concentrated in the hands of a few, but more broadly shared.

Degrowth also addresses inequality of time. In growth-focused economies, lower-income individuals work long hours merely to survive, while high-income elites accumulate wealth they may never use. Reducing working hours, sharing resources, and promoting community engagement ensures that everyone has not only income but also the time and dignity to participate fully in society. This form of equality - of time and opportunity - is often overlooked but central to human well-being.

The urgency of embracing degrowth is heightened by climate change. The richest populations are responsible for the majority of carbon emissions, while the poorest face the worst consequences. Unchecked growth exacerbates these disparities, producing environmental inequality alongside economic inequality. Degrowth, by curbing overconsumption in wealthy regions, redistributes both resources and environmental burdens. It is a strategy that combines social fairness with ecological sustainability.

Cultural transformation is critical for degrowth to succeed. Growth has long been equated with progress. Politicians promise prosperity through expansion, and societies internalize the belief that more is always better. Yet decades of experience show that growth does not deliver broadly shared prosperity. Degrowth challenges this narrative, redefining success not by accumulation but by sufficiency, well-being, and sustainability. Prosperity is measured not by how much the richest consume, but by how well society meets the basic needs and dignity of all.

The choice is clear. Societies can continue chasing growth, celebrating progress that enriches the few and waiting for crisis to enforce equality. Or they can embrace degrowth as a deliberate path, redistributing resources, redefining prosperity, and ensuring fairness before catastrophe strikes. The first path repeats the cycles of boom and bust; the second offers a new story, one where equality is not incidental but built into the system.

Degrowth brings equality because it shifts the very criteria by which societies measure success. It replaces accumulation with sufficiency, competition with cooperation, and excess with fairness. Growth, by contrast, rewards the few and punishes the many. The equality hidden in degrowth is not accidental - it is the product of conscious choices to prioritize fairness, sustainability, and well-being. Societies willing to embrace degrowth can achieve a more equitable and resilient future, one where prosperity is shared, and opportunity is accessible to all.

In an era obsessed with expansion, degrowth quietly reveals a truth often ignored: true progress is not measured by what the few accumulate, but by how equitably resources, opportunities, and well-being are distributed. Equality does not have to wait for a crisis; it can be chosen, nurtured, and institutionalized. Degrowth offers a pathway to fairness that is both practical and necessary, ensuring that the benefits of society are not confined to a privileged few, but available to all.


Mehdi Rahman works in the development sector. He also
 writes on foreign trade 
and monetary issues.