Postgrowth and wellbeing : transitions to sustainable welfare / Milena Buchs, Max Koch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buchs, Milena, 1977- author.

Koch, Max, 1966- author.

Series:

Palgrave pivot

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public welfare--Economic aspects.

Public welfare.

Physical Description:

xv, 144 pages : illustrations, charts ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave MacMillan, [2017]

Summary:

This book presents a detailed and critical discussion about how human wellbeing can be maintained and improved in a postgrowth era. It highlights the close links between economic growth, market capitalism, and the welfare state demonstrating that, in many ways, wellbeing outcomes currently depend on the growth paradigm. Here the authors argue that notions of basic human needs deserve greater emphasis in debates on postgrowth because they are more compatible with limits to growth. Drawing on theories of social practices, the book explores structural barriers to transitions to a postgrowth society, and ends with suggestions for policies and institutions that could support wellbeing in the context of postgrowth. This thought-provoking work makes a valuable contribution to debates surrounding climate change, sustainability, welfare states and inequality and will appeal to students and scholars of social policy, sociology, political science, economics, political ecology and human geography--back cover.

Contents:

Introduction

Capitalist development and the growth paradigm

Growth and the welfare state as we know it

Critiques of growth

Postgrowth and human wellbeing

The generation of human wellbeing: social practices theory

Welfare in a global steady-state economy

Conclusions.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9783319599021

331959902X

9783319599038

3319599038

OCLC:

1004375332