Jason Hickel

Once people understand what Degrowth is, the majority support it (74–84% in the UK and 67–73% in the US), regardless of the label. See our new research in @thelancet.com www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

@giorgoskallis.bsky.social @jasonhickel.bsky.social @F. Basso @lsepbs.bsky.social @cusp.ac.uk

Un primer estudio integral muestra un gran apoyo a las ideas clave del decrecimiento, pero no al término El primer gran estudio científico realizado para evaluar las actitudes públicas hacia la teoría del decrecimiento revela un apoyo significativo...

🆕Un primer estudio integral muestra un gran apoyo a las ideas clave del #decrecimiento, pero no al término.

Un estudio del ICTA-UAB liderado por @jasonhickel.bsky.social & @giorgoskallis.bsky.social revela apoyo en Reino Unido del 74-84 % y en EUA del 67-73 %.

www.uab.cat/web/sala-de-...

Assessing public support for degrowth: survey-based experimental and predictive studies Contrary to concerns from politicians and commentators that degrowth is broadly unpopular, the core degrowth proposal received substantial support from UK and US participants in this study, regardless...

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

And we must remember that the struggle does not consist in deciding on the right terminology and framing. It consists in building power. This must remain front and centre.

The paper is open-access, and I'll put a link in the reply.

But ultimately, what this study shows is that we don't necessarily need a single term; it's the political substance and the concrete policies that matter.

To me it's important to be clear about the political antagonism that is at stake: this is a class war. Ecosocialism does this job (but other terms may work just as well or better).

What about "well-being economy"? It's popular and very useful in certain contexts, but it is also apolitical and can easily be co-opted by capitalists.

Third, the term ecosocialism is substantially more popular and I think can create broader political support (we didn't test related terms, like socialism or democratic socialism or communism... but this would be interesting!).

...UNLESS you have the capacity to educate people about what the term means and what such a transformation would entail.

Second, the word "degrowth" is a crucial analytical and scientific term, but - depending on the context - perhaps less useful as a public-facing political slogan, as it is easily misunderstood....

First, the transformative vision and policies advanced by advocates of degrowth-ecosocialism are extremely popular and can form the basis of a winning political campaign.

Next, we gave people the full proposal but this time together with various different labels. We found that support was high regardless of the label, with very strong majorities.

So what can we make of all this? For me, here are the main takeaways:

"Ecosocialism" had higher support, at 36-58%, and much lower opposition (11-16%).

"Well-being economy" had even higher support (51-81%) and very minimal opposition (more on this later).

Next, we presented people with various labels - including "degrowth", "ecosocialism", and "well-being economy" - without any description.

We found that "degrowth" was supported by 20-26%, depending on the study, but also attracted a lot of opposition (16-34%).

-democratizing control over finance and the means of production
-ending imperialist appropriation from the global South through unequal exchange

We found that 82% of people supported it.

This included:

-scaling down damaging and unnecessary production/consumption
-cutting the purchasing power of the rich
-establishing universal public services and a public job guarantee to reorganize production around needs

First, we presented people with a full proposal for a degrowth-ecosocialist transformation, but without using any label.

We surveyed more than 5,000 people in the UK and US, using demographically representative samples and two separate study designs. Here I'll report results for the UK, but the US is similar.

I'm excited to announce this new study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, which explores public support for degrowth and ecosocialist transformation. The findings are quite surprising.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

First comprehensive investigation shows large support for core ideas of degrowth, but not the label The first major study into public attitudes toward degrowth – the notion that high-income economies should prioritise wellbeing over growing...

First comprehensive investigation shows large support for core ideas of degrowth, but not the label.

Conducted by ICTA-UAB researchers @giorgoskallis.bsky.social & @jasonhickel.bsky.social together with the LSE @lsepoliticsblog.bsky.social

www.uab.cat/web/sala-de-...

A US invasion would be a war crime against international law, and would result in tens of thousands of deaths. Every single one of these freaks posting pro-invasion takes will have blood on their hands.

Remember, these regime-changers *do not* care about democracy. This is pure PR narrative. The US gladly coups democratically elected leaders (Mosaddegh, Lumumba, Allende, etc), and gladly props up actual autocracies (Saudi, Jordan, Egypt, etc) if it serves their interests.

We are mobilizing to Honduras. Here is why. The Progressive International Observatory is mobilizing to Honduras to stand with its people against foreign intervention.

"The domestic destabilisation campaign is being amplified by an escalation of interference from the United States."

The PI Observatory is in Honduras to stand with its people against foreign intervention.

Let's be clear: the US govt *does not* care about the people of Venezuela. It cares about US hegemony and the interests of the US capitalist class. That is what this is about.

The UN General Assembly resolution against torture was rejected by only three countries: the US, Israel, and Argentina, who remind the world that they oppose even the most basic principles of humanity.

In a sane world, the government guilty of committing genocide would be dismantled, and forced to pay reparations. Instead they are allowed to corral their victims into a concentration camp and steal their land. We live in the most obscene of all possible timelines.

Someone in the replies claims China's clean energy development is only for export. This is false. China is installing more clean energy capacity than the rest of the world combined, while *also* exporting clean energy tech that's helping the rest of the world decarbonize.

... through targeted green lending, green bonds in collateral frameworks, and differing interest rates on reserve requirements.”

“In comparing climate policies, we first find that the People’s Bank of China is the only central bank that conducts meaningful monetary policy that supports the green transition, such as ...

If Europe and the US want to address the climate crisis, they must take a lesson here and empower their central banks to align finance with social and ecological objectives.