Results from Barcelona 2010 on the topic redefining value

Redefining Value

The following are the results of the GAP at the Degrowth Conference 2010 in Barcelona that are particularly relevant for this working group

The document presents the complete results of those Barcelona working groups with some relations the current one

Working Groups from 2010 GAP in Barcelona with some connections:

Human nature and degrowth

• Human beings have biological, emotional, intellectual and spiritual potentials, and different cultures realize them differently. The social, political and economic conditions which people live in shape their values and behaviors.

• Humans seem to tend to act ‘short-term’, but now with humankind facing pressing ecological limits, there is now a need to create institutions fostering us to feel, think and act more long-term (i.e. within ecological limits).

• In the context of degrowth, it is imperative to draw upon and integrate research including but not limited to anthropology, happiness studies, experimental economics, evolutionary psychology, and neuroscience for transcending the concept of homo economicus. Such research into human nature would enable us to better understand how to reshape these conditions in order to favor those values and behaviors which are socially and environmentally benign - for example to better distinguish between real needs and illusory needs/satisfiers.

• We propose to support existing and creating new experimental spaces, i.e. communities experimenting with degrowth at a local scale to investigate in practice how best to satisfy the basic needs for sharing, creating and mutual esteeming.

How to deal with advertising

• Advertising increases consumption by creating the illusion that people can satisfy their needs – real or imaginary - through products. It is wasteful and is driven by the competitive nature of the capitalist system.

• To deal with advertising, we need a bottom-up and a top-down approach. Bottom-up focusses on changing people’s perception of advertising to recognise its manipulative nature. Top-down refers to government action to impose limits. More research is needed on freeing communications channels from advertising.

Bottom-up proposals:

• Empower people to enable them to deconstruct advertising

• Detox from the imagery of the consumption society

• Community child protection from advertising

• Debunking the myth of satisfying immaterial needs with material goods

• Reduce inequality – inequality drives consumerism

• Expose ubiquity of advertising

• Expose exploitation of values in advertising

• Direct action, ie subvertising

Top-down proposals:

• Ban everything (all ads) possible from public space

• Regulate everything (all ads) possible that affect kids/vulnerable people, health, CO2-intensive sectors, sexist messages, etc.

• Advertising should be as expensive as possible, i.e. taxes, accounting standards, etc.

Research questions:

• Do we need ombudsmen for advertising?

• How to free the internet from advertising?

• How to organise free communications financially? (i.e. What are the real costs of a newspaper?)

Political strategies

Three comprehensive and complementary options:

• Exit strategy: leaving the system, building alternatives

• Voice strategy: political movement and activist, a particular engagement

• Loyalty strategy: change within the political system, assimilation within the political party system, perhaps too early and perhaps against the ideas of degrowth

Further points:

• Need to learn from other local initiatives, some cases were discussed, and the need to be based more in the grassroots and history of movements, have relevance recognize diversity of socio-cultural and political history contexts

• Need to learn to local initiatives to reply in other local contexts or to extract models that can be expanded at the global level. Degrowth is not an entirely new idea, to take root in the 1970´s, is important to learn about mistakes, need to highlight alternatives of the past and look at how they have worked.

• The discussion have emphasis in understand social, technological, political and economics contexts that made differences between now and 70´s. The movements change from our current situation and position at local and global level should not be only one, but would have to be constructed from an understanding of the different cultures and political history context in determining the emphasis on particular political strategies.

Indicators for degrowth

Goal of the Indicators: reduce resource use on one hand as well as wastes and emissions to within ecological limits while maintaining and enhancing quality of life

What to measure:

• environmental as well as social indicators (with economic ones part of the latter)

• qualitative and quantitative aspects

• objective and subjective indicators

What to consider:

• bottom-up and deliberative approach

• indicators for communication and indicators for analysis

• consumption and production aspects

• not to reinvent the wheel but make use of available (SD) indicators where appropirate

• not get dominated what is measured already but consider first what to measure