Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto by Kohei Saito, translated by Brian Bergstrom

• Publisher: Astra Publishing House
• Pages: 288
• ISBN: 9781662602368
• Published: 2024-01-09

It is probably a little unusual to include a book which hasn’t yet been published in English (and therefore I have not read yet), in a list of must-read books, however the Japanese edition of Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto has sold over 500,000 copies, a fair indication that this is a book not to be missed.

For those intrigued to learn more, here is the blurb from the publisher:

“Why, in our affluent society, do so many people live in poverty, without access to health care, working multiple jobs and are nevertheless unable to make ends meet, with no future prospects, while the planet is burning?

In his international bestseller, Kohei Saito argues that while unfettered capitalism is often blamed for inequality and climate change, subsequent calls for “sustainable growth” and a “Green New Deal” are a dangerous compromise. Capitalism creates artificial scarcity by pursuing profit based on the value of products rather than their usefulness and by putting perpetual growth above all else. It is therefore impossible to reverse climate change in a capitalist society—more: the system that caused the problem in the first place cannot be an integral part of the solution. 

Instead, Saito advocates for degrowth and deceleration, which he conceives as the slowing of economic activity through the democratic reform of labor and production. In practical terms, he argues for:

• the end of mass production and mass consumption
• decarbonization through shorter working hours 
• the prioritization of essential labor over corporate profits

By returning to a system of social ownership, he argues, we can restore abundance and focus on those activities that are essential for human life, effectively reversing climate change and saving the planet.”

About the Author, Kohei Saito:

Kohei Saito is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo. He received his PhD in philosophy from Humboldt Universität zu Berlin in 2016. He was awarded the 2018 Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize, the most prestigious academic award for Marxian studies, making Saito its youngest recipient. In 2020 the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science awarded him the highly prestigious JSPS prize, awarded to the top 25 scholars (only a few in humanities and social sciences) in the entire country under the age of 45. In 2021, Slow Down received the “Best Asian Books of the Year” prize from the Asia Book Awards.

About Erin Remblance, your host during #DegrowthLitMonth:

Erin Remblance established her early career in blue-chip fast-moving consumer goods companies in Sydney & London, but always sensed there was more important work to be done. Having children gave her the space to explore the environmental and cultural crises on the planet that need to be urgently addressed. She shifted her focus to dedicate her life towards educating people on climate change, degrowth, planetary boundaries, modern monetary theory and more. Erin is a writer, researcher, co-creator of (re)Biz, wife, and mother of three children. She lives north of Sydney, Australia with her family, on the occupied ancestral country of the Gayemagal people.

Follow Erin on Substack, LinkedIn, (re)Biz and X (formerly Twitter).

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