Less Is More

How Degrowth Will Save the World

by Jason Hickel

320 pages

English language

Published Jan. 18, 2021 by Penguin Random House.

ISBN:: 978-1-78609-121-5

(6 reviews)

The world has finally awoken to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Now we must face up to its primary cause: capitalism. Our economic system is based on perpetual expansion, which is devastating the living world. There is only one solution that will lead to meaningful and immediate change: degrowth.

If we want to have a shot at surviving the Anthropocene, we need to restore the balance. We need to change how we see the world and our place within it, shifting from a philosophy of domination and extraction to one that’s rooted in reciprocity with our planet’s ecology. We need to evolve beyond the dusty dogmas of capitalism to a new system that’s fit for the twenty-first century.

But what about jobs? What about health? What about progress? This book tackles these questions and offers an inspiring vision for what a post-capitalist economy could look like. An …

But what about jobs? What about health? What about progress? This book tackles these questions and offers an inspiring vision for what a post-capitalist economy could look like. An economy that’s more just, more caring, and more fun. An economy that enables human flourishing while reversing ecological breakdown. By taking less, we can become more.

3 editions

zeerooth reviewed Less Is More by Jason Hickel

Capitalism unmasked

5 stars

“Less is More” is an eye-opening book that goes in detail about the rise, mechanisms and threat of capitalism. As people, governments and corporations continue their business as usual - ploughing through forests, extracting copious amounts of resources and accelerating mindless consumerism, the threat of our civilization’s downfall through the irreversible effects of climate change looms closer. Is it possible to stop it? Perhaps, but it will require for us to move away from the ever-unsustainable ideas of endless growth, Jason Hickel argues and establishes “degrowth” as the new model countries around the world should follow and gives examples of a few already successful transformations. Ideas of equality, healthcare, ecology and post-consumerism, among many others, contribute to “degrowth” and are going to be essential for creating sustainable future. It is not about asceticism, as one may fear, but about flourishing.

I hope this book finds its way to as many …

I hope this book finds its way to as many people around the world as possible. For me, it destroyed many assumptions I had about how our economy and our relation with the environment works. It highlighted the issues of the ever-present chase for more GDP growth, consumerism and how capitalism often creates and feeds on artificial scarcity to unnecessarily produce and sell more things.

I hope humanity can address all of these issues in this century. However, there is still doubt at the back of my mind. To implement the ideas “Less is More” presents, it basically requires that mythical world peace, in order for countries to stop growing, producing so much military hardware and flexing their muscles on the international stage. And as things stand right now, we’re unfortunately not headed in that direction.

Kantolope reviewed Less Is More by Jason Hickel

Stick to Your Thesis

3 stars

This book, ostensibly, argues that capital's endless pursuit of growth will only end in ecological catastrophe and that only by rejecting perpetual growth, and by extension capital, can we live truly fulfilling lives. I have no problem with this, and actually support this thesis. The problem arises when the author attempts to try his hand at history and bourgeois philosophy. As I've said previously, he attributes outright malevolence to actions that could easily be explained by trying to do well within imperialist/colonialist systems. Furthermore, it's painfully clear that the author has only read the wikipedia articles on the philosophies he critiques. This is doubly unfortunate because I actually agree with his conclusions regarding bourgeois philosophy and how it has historically been used. The analysis is just not up to snuff unfortunately. With a little more time and effort, this could have been great. As it is, it's just okay.