Sustainable Consumption and Worktime Reduction

Formal and informal labour markets; shadow economy; labour market policy; unemployment; employment; wage compensation; labour market regulation

A Structural Critique of Consumption: Inequality, Globalization and the Aspirational Gap

human development, consumption, globalization

Exit Ramp to Sustainability: the plenitude path

Juliet Schor, economista de renom i catedràtica de sociologia, identifica signes vitals de resistència iesperança en un món confrontat per desafiaments ecològics extrems. En el seu molt lúcid i documentattreball, l’autora mostra les interconnexions existents entre un amenaçant col·lapse ecològic, la pobresaglobal i les crisis econòmiques. Mentre les proves al voltant de la intensitat dels abusos humans globalssobre la nostra biosfera segueixen augmentant, les estructures, teories i polítiques econòmiqueshegemòniques, en lloc d’oferir solucions sensates, segueixen exacerbant la contribució humana a ladegradació del medi ambient del nostre planeta. Mentre els economistes de les societats riques segueixentractant el medi ambient com un be de luxe, les proves científiques ens diuen que la humanitat no potpermetre’s el luxe d’esperar que certs individus percebin que són novament rics abans de prendre accionsefectives. Segons explica l’autora, hi ha una necessitat urgent de trobar noves formes de reduir les nostrespetjades ecològiques i les emissions de gas d’efecte hivernacle mentre es resolen els problemes econòmicsdel Nord global i augmenten els estàndards de vida de la gent pobre del Sud global. Aquest és el problemareal del nostre temps i el nucli dels conflictes i canvis socials que tenim pel davant. Com demostra JulietSchor en el seu article, necessitem una rampa de sortida, una visió econòmica de transició cap a unaeconomia planetària sostenible que es fonamenti, no només en una comprensió clara del lloc on hem estat,sinó de la resistència d’un moviment emergent i en expansió de persones que estan forjant un camí cap auna nova plenitud.Juliet Schor, a well regarded economist and professor of sociology, identifies vital signs of resistance andhope in a world confronted by extreme ecological challenges. In her very lucid and well-documentedwork, the author shows the interconnection among a threatening ecological collapse, global poverty andeconomic crises. While evidence on the intensity of global stressors on our biosphere keeps mountingprevailing economic structures, theories and policies, rather than offering meaningful solutions, keepexacerbating human contribution to the degradation of our planet’s environment. While economists inwealthy societies keep treating the environment as a luxury good, scientific evidence tells us thathumanity does not have the luxury of waiting for some people to feel rich again before taking effectiveaction. There is an urgent need to find new ways to reduce our eco-footprints and green house gasemissions while solving the economic problems of the global north and raising the standard of living ofpoor people in the global south, she explains. This is the real problem of our time and the core of socialconflict and change ahead. As Juliet Schor demonstrates in her article, we need an exit ramp, an economicvision of the transition towards a sustainable planetary economy based not only on a clear understandingof where we have been, but on the resistance of an emerging and expanding movement of people who areforging a path to a new plenitude.Juliet Schor, economista de renombre y catedrática de sociología, identifica signos vitales de resistencia yesperanza en un mundo confrontado con desafíos ecológicos extremos. En su muy lúcido y documentadotrabajo, la autora muestra las interconexiones existentes entre un amenazante colapso ecológico, lapobreza global y las crisis económicas. Mientras que las pruebas acerca de la intensidad de los abusoshumanos globales sobre nuestra biosfera siguen aumentando, las estructuras, teorías y políticaseconómicas hegemónicas, en lugar de ofrecer soluciones sensatas, siguen exacerbando la contribuciónhumana a la degradación del medioambiente de nuestro planeta. Mientras que los economistas de lassociedades ricas siguen tratando el medioambiente como un bien de lujo, las pruebas científicas nos dicenque la humanidad no puede darse el lujo de esperar que ciertos individuos perciban que son de nuevoricos antes de tomar acciones efectivas. Según explica la autora, hay una necesidad urgente de encontrarformas nuevas de reducir nuestras huellas ecológicas y emisiones de gas de efecto invernadero mientrasse resuelven los problemas económicos del Norte global y aumentan los estándares de vida de la gentepobre del Sur global. Este es el problema real de nuestro tiempo y el núcleo de los conflictos y cambiossociales que tenemos por delante. Como demuestra Juliet Schor en su artículo, necesitamos una rampa desalida, una visión económica de transición hacia una economía planetaria sostenible que se base, no soloen una comprensión clara de dónde hemos estado, sino de la resistencia de un movimiento emergente yen expansión de personas que están forjando una senda hacia una nueva plenitud

Flexible markets, stable societies?

"Parallel zum Niedergang des Normalarbeitsverhältnisses seit den Siebzigerjahren haben auch die familiären Beziehungen an institutioneller Verbindlichkeit verloren. Das Papier - die leicht überarbeitete Fassung eines Plenarvortrags beim 34. Deutschen Soziologentag im Oktober 2008 - diskutiert mögliche Zusammenhänge zwischen der Flexibilisierung von Arbeitsmärkten und Familienstrukturen und setzt diese in Beziehung zu der gleichzeitig gesunkenen Geburtenrate. Als Ursache der Koevolution von Arbeitsmärkten und Familienbeziehungen kommen sowohl die Attraktivität freier Märkte als auch die von ihnen ausgehenden wirtschaftlichen Zwänge in Frage. Der gegenwärtige Übergang zu einer neuen, auf Hebung der Geburtenrate zielenden Sozialpolitik ist ein Beispiel, wie die Expansion von Marktbeziehungen und die von ihr ausgehende Unsicherheit auch der persönlichen Lebensverhältnisse Forderungen nach staatlicher Intervention nach sich zieht. Die Logik ist dieselbe wie in der Bankenkrise, wo die Befreiung der Kapitalmärkte von traditionellen Beschränkungen und die zunehmende Kommodifizierung des Geldes den Staat gezwungen haben, mit öffentlichen Mitteln stabile Erwartungen und gegenseitiges Vertrauen wiederherzustellen. In beiden Fällen, und wahrscheinlich generell, erzeugt Kapitalismus ein Bedürfnis nach staatlicher Ersatzbeschaffung für soziale Beziehungen, die als Folge ihrer Vermarktung ihre ursprünglichen Funktionen nicht mehr zu erfüllen vermögen." (Autorenreferat)"The dissolution of the standard employment relationship since the 1970s has been paralleled by a destabilization of family relations. The paper, which is a slightly revised version of a plenary lecture at the 2008 Meeting of the German Sociological Association, discusses possible connections between the rise of more flexible labor market and family structures, and explores how they might tie in with the declining birth rate. The co-evolution of labor markets and family relations can be explained by both the attractions and the constraints of free markets. The current shift toward a new social policy aimed at increasing fertility is presented as an example of how expanding market relations and the uncertainty to which they give rise in personal life cause demands for state intervention. The logic seems remarkably similar to that of the current banking crisis, where the liberation of financial markets from traditional constraints and the progressive commodification of money have ultimately issued in irresistible pressures on the state to step in and restore the social commons of stable expectations and mutual confidence. In both cases, and perhaps generally, capitalism seems to imply a need for a public power capable of creating substitutes for social relations invaded by market relations and as a consequence losing their capacity to perform some of their previous functions." (author's abstract

Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-in-Society-in-Nature

The world has changed dramatically. We no longer live in a world relatively empty of humans and their artifacts. We now live in the “Anthropocene,” era in a full world where humans are dramatically altering our ecological life-support system. Our traditional economic concepts and models were developed in an empty world. If we are to create sustainable prosperity, if we seek “improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities,” we are going to need a new vision of the economy and its relationship to the rest of the world that is better adapted to the new conditions we face. We are going to need an economics that respects planetary boundaries, that recognizes the dependence of human well-being on social relations and fairness, and that recognizes that the ultimate goal is real, sustainable human well-being, not merely growth of material consumption. This new economics recognizes that the economy is embedded in a society and culture that are themselves embedded in an ecological life-support system, and that the economy cannot grow forever on this finite planet. In this report, we discuss the need to focus more directly on the goal of sustainable human well-being rather than merely GDP growth. This includes protecting and restoring nature, achieving social and intergenerational fairness (including poverty alleviation), stabilizing population, and recognizing the significant nonmarket contributions to human well-being from natural and social capital. To do this, we need to develop better measures of progress that go well beyond GDP and begin to measure human well-being and its sustainability more directly

Building a sustainable and desirable economy-in-society-in-nature

This report is a synthesis of ideas about what this new economy-in-society-innature could look like and how we might get there. Most of the ideas presented here are not new. The coauthors of this report have published them in various forms over the last several decades, and many others have expressed similar ideas in venues too numerous to mention. What is new is the timing and the situation. The time has come when we must make a transition. We have no choice. Our present path is clearly unsustainable. As Paul Raskin has said, Contrary to the conventional wisdom, it is business as usual that is the utopian fantasy; forging a new vision is the pragmatic necessity [10]. But we do have a choice about how to make the transition and what the new state of the world will be. We can engage in a global dialogue to envision the future we want, the theme of Rio+20, and then devise an adaptive strategy to get us there, or we can allow the current system to collapse and rebuild from a much worse starting point. We obviously argue for the former strategy. In this report, we discuss the need to focus more directly on the goal of sustainable human well-being rather than merely GDP growth. This includes protecting and restoring nature, achieving social and intergenerational fairness (including poverty alleviation), stabilizing population, and recognizing the significant nonmarket contributions to human well-being from natural and social capital. To do this, we need to develop better measures of progress that go well beyond GDP and begin to measure human well-being and its sustainability more directly

The Four Day Week: Assessing global trials of reduced work time with no reduction in pay: Evidence from Ireland

Research suggests that worktime reduction is a multi-dividend policy that can improve human wellbeing, organisational performance, and environmental outcomes. Social benefits include reduced stress and burnout for employees and more time for family, community, and self. Economic benefits depend on the form of worktime reduction. Where it is accomplished without loss or even gains in productivity, it is beneficial for companies’ bottom lines. Environmental benefits can accrue reduced energy expended in commuting, especially with four-day work weeks; increases in low carbon but time-intensive practices for households; and reduced carbon emissions due to trading income for a time. As the most popular form of worktime reduction, a four-day, 32-hour workweek has been gaining momentum in recent years. Given this growth in interest, Four Day Week Global (4DWG) began supporting companies and non-profit organisations that wanted to try a four-day, 32-hour workweek with no reduction in pay. Boston College leads the research team in partnership with University College Dublin, Cambridge University and other academic partners. We are constructing a sizeable quantitative database of employee outcomes across different countries and types of companies and organisations. We collected data on time use, subjective wellbeing, physical and mental health, labour market behaviour, and energy use with a wide-ranging instrument. In February 2022, 4DWG launched the first of several coordinated international trials. It involved 614 employees across Ireland, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. The research involved (i) surveying employees at the beginning, midpoint and end of the trial, (ii) compiling time-use diaries of employees’ days off, (iii) collecting monthly data on organisational performance and (iv) interviewing employees and managers at the end of the trial1. This report presents detailed results of a subset of Irish organisations and their employees participating in the trial. This group comprised 12 small to medium enterprises, primarily concentrated in the IT and professional services sectors.Fórs