Continual cumulative growth is the central hegemonic pillar of mainstream economics. Growth – an accelerating frenzy of material production and economic activities – is seen as the only guarantor of security and abundance for all. It actually achieves the reverse.
Capitalism’s organizing principle is put with elegant simplicity by economic anthropologist Jason Hickel thus: ‘Take more than you give back.’ Growth is all about this accumulation, the creation of massive surplus by devaluing the material resources of our planet and the labour of the very many – for it to be captured by the very few. Today the richest one per cent grabs nearly a quarter of all income and owns half of all wealth.
