Abstract

The aim of the article is to reflect on the degrowth strategy. Pointing out various difficulties, the author focuses on identifying the field that degrowth theories cannot ignore if they want to be effective: the dominant political economy. Following Marx's thought, the author argues that the mode of functioning of society adequate to the postulates of degrowth would have to be "narrowed reproduction." This is a difficult move because, in addition to the logic of accumulation, there is also the mechanism of alienation and our consumption habits to overcome. Only against this background can we look for examples of radical social change, the scale of which would meet the requirements of degrowth. According to the author, such an example may be the frequent abandonment of agriculture in the Neolithic era (Graeber, Wengrow). However, it is not about (impossible) repeating such a decision, but about the very ability to make it, as a cultural pattern. However, this means decapita(lisa)tion of capital.