“Contemporary societies face unprecedented ecological, social and economic crises that call for an immediate and radical transformation of the dominant, growth-dependent mode of production and living.”

The goal of the seminar is to provide students with the chance to understand, analyse and critique the role economic growth in unsustainable western consumer societies, through hands-on experience in designing a social action/intervention. The course takes place in collaboration with students from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna (Angewandte) as a transdisciplinary course.

The focus of the course will thus be both on theory and practice in challenging the 'growth imperative'. The application of a wide notion of culture is used to enable the analysis of the role of cultural institutions (such as marketing firms, museums, public-space interventions ...) in upholding current unsustainable practices and the hegemony of economic growth. Building on this critical analysis the course explores the implications of alternative socio-economic development paths and concepts (including degrowth, postgrowth, a-growth, steady-state economics, and green growth) for individuals, firms, cultural institutions, public institutions, and public space. The students will design and implement a social intervention in the space of the course.

The course includes elements of blended learning, with students receiving input on theories and concepts at the start of the course and applying these concepts as part of a group project/interventin to further student understanding and learning. Thus, after theoretical and conceptual input from the lecturers, students develop strategies to achieve alternative development paths, taking into consideration political-economic and socio-cultural barriers to a social-ecological transformation, as well as the tendencies and potentials for rapid change in modern societies. Inspirations for these strategies and development paths, students will find as part of collaborative work with their colleagues from the Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien and during the five-hours obligatory attendance Degrowth Vienna 2020 conference on “Strategies for Social-Ecological Transformation”. Numerous businesses, consumers and civil-society actors will engage with the role of economic growth in their daily practices and envision alternative modes of living and producing.

* EVERYTHING WILL BE ONLINE*

Unit 1 & 2

Theoretical inputs by lecturers, discussion of readings, debate

Together with Students of the Social Design master program

Unit 3 & 4

Group work, preparation and activities.

Together with Students of the Social Design master program

Unit 5 (5 hours)

Class presentations of group work activities.

Unit 6

Overview and summary, take-aways,

Students should be familiar with the role of economic growth for well-being, social justice, and environmental sustainability, including the importance of theories for understanding the socio-economic system.

After the course the students will be able to give answers to the following questions.

• What is economic growth and productivity? Under what historical conditions, when and where, became economic growth a dominant focus of societal development? How is economic growth related to resource and energy use, human well-being and social stability? Is it possible to decouple economic growth from environmental impacts?
• On which geographic and timescale have pollutants been decoupled from economic growth historically? Where and to which extent decoupling of environmental pollution (e.g. CO2 emissions) be observed? Which production inputs have historically been substituted and which inputs are unlikely to be substituted? Given stringent mitigation of the climate crises, which consumer goods can be replaced and to which goods alternatives are so far not on the horizon? 
• What are cultural dimensions of economic growth? What is the growth imperative? Is there something like a growth imperative? Do modern societies depend structurally, economically, culturally and/or socially on economic growth? Which structures, sense-making, institutions, actors and mechanisms drive economic growth?
• What role does marketing, media, and public spaces have in creating a growth imperative? Which marketing strategies have been used to address the global climate crisis and to create awareness? How could such marketing strategies be applied for the alleviation of the growth imperative? What place could has marketing in achieving the 1.5 degree goal?

After the course students will have attained the following practical skills:

 The group work will be conducted in collaboration with students, and the course includes a mandatory attendance of the conference to learn about recent developments in scholarship in the fields of socio-ecological transformation, degrowth and critiques of economic growth.

• Analyze and critically reflect (‘critical thinking’) on the framing of social and ecological challenges and policies.
• Select and apply theoretical concepts in the context of ecological economics.
• Critically reflect on current debates taking place in influential media.
• Engage in open discussion, conceive their own opinion based on state-of-the-art academic research and give substantial-constructive feedback
• Develop a public intervention/social campaign in line with current societal challenges.

Examination-immanent courses (PI) have compulsory attendance.

In case of absence, we ask students to inform the lecturer in advance via email. 

80% minimum attendance is necessary to pass the course. 

As a quasi-blended learning class, students will receive information and input both from lecturers, as well as from peer-learning and practice. Since the aim of the class is to develop strategies on how to overcome current unsustainable socio-economic conditions, the emphasis on group-learning is supposed to enable students to develop their understanding.  

In the first two sessions of the class, students will have lectures together with students from the Social Design Masters Program of the Angewandte. After that, students will develop their group projects together with students from the Angewandte. After the Degrowth conference students will hold a presentation of their project in class to show the outcomes of their activities. 

Students are also required to read, analyse and discuss academic articles as well as theories and concepts.

1. Presentation of public intervention (50% of total grade).

2. Public intervention group report (20%): approx. 3 pages.

3. Public intervention individual reflection (10%): approx. 1 page.

4. Participation (20% of total grade) Active participation is encouraged and expected, students will be marked on actively taking part in discussions. 

Course enrollment is on "first-come, first-served" basis. If you have registered but cannot participate in the course, please deregister via LPIS during the registration period so that your course is available to students on the waiting list.

If there is a waiting list for enrollment in the course, students on the waiting list will be notified after the end of the enrollment period, and will be allocated to available places.

Students will be ranked by their study progress not by their rank on the waiting list. This procedure, however, is not to be understood as a place guarantee!

Students are required to read, analyse and discuss academic articles as well as concepts and theories on the topic of sustainability.

While no previous knowledge is assumed, an interest in the topic is important.

It is recommended to attend and finish ZUWI I before this class.

Lecturers available on request. Please email for an appointment.