Degrowth and hierarchy with Blair Fix

SPIDERS in the Doughnut

Humanity’s most pressing need is to learn how to live within our planet’s boundaries — something that likely means doing without economic growth. How, then, can we create a non-growth society that is both just and equitable? Blair Fix attempts to address this question by looking at an aspect of sustainability (and equity) that is not often discussed: the growth of hierarchy. As societies consume more energy, they tend to become more hierarchical. At the same time, the growth of hierarchy also seems to be a key driver of income/resource inequality. In his essay, Blair Fix reviews the evidence for the joint relation between energy, hierarchy and inequality. He then speculates about what it implies for achieving a sustainable and equitable future. To see the slide presentation which comprises the first half of this talk, see https://youtu.be/xOiH0itoJcE Biography Blair Fix is a political economist based in Toronto who is focused on the future of humanity, and how we can create economic theory that’s relevant to real-world problems. He is a multidisciplinary social scientist with a varied educational background, including engineering and jazz music. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from York University in Toronto, with the thesis “Economics from the Top Down: Does Hierarchy Unify Economic Theory?” His first book, Rethinking Economic Growth Theory From a Biophysical Perspective, was published in 2015. Economists who have influenced Blair include Steve Keen, Herman Daly, E.K. Hunt, and David Korten. Biologists of influence include David Sloan Wilson. Blair is continuing his research independently (outside of academia) and welcomes support via Patreon. His Twitter handle is @blair_fix. Links Blair Fix https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/ https://www.patreon.com/blairfix https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOHECa12PdRfkREaZvcHo2g Capital as Power https://capitalaspower.com/ Real-World Economics Review http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/ Degrowth https://degrowth.org/ (International) https://www.degrowth.info/en/ (International) https://degrowthuk.org/ (UK) https://www.postwachstum.de/ (Germany) http://www.projet-decroissance.net/ (France) https://ontgroei.degrowth.net/ (Netherlands) 8th International Degrowth Conference: Caring Communities for Radical Change, 24 – 28 August 2021 https://www.degrowth.info/en/the-hague-2021/ About the SPIDERS Platform This series of talks is organized on behalf of SPIDERS, the Seoul Platform for Initiating Discourses on Equitable and Resilient Society, and funded by the Seoul Institute. The talks complement a series of original papers published on the SPIDERS platform, dedicated to outlining the building blocks of post-capitalist political economies and societies, not oriented around growth and profit, but rather good lives and a flourishing web of life in times of profound planetary change. Hosting these talks are founder of the P2P Foundation, Michel Bauwens, and Rok Kranjc, researcher, designer and translator in the fields of political ecology, alternative economies and participatory futures. Link to the paper series: http://seoulhumanities.or.kr/sub03/e_result.html