Dimensions
153 x 227 x 20mm
Contemporary capitalism is caught in a dual crisis of economy and ecology. Central to both dimensions of this crisis is the issue of growth. On the one hand, capitalist economies must exhibit perpetual growth in order to function properly. On the other hand, the expansion of capitalist production and consumption ultimately interferes with the processes of natural growth that we find within the domain of ecology.
Parallax of Growth explores the ideas of economy and ecology and the factors that have put them on a collision course. Among other things, the book aims to explain why our current mode of economic organization seems to be inherently committed to perpetual growth. A key answer, argues Bjerg, is that contemporary capitalism is characterized by an inherent 'debt drive', whereby the creation of money through the issuance of commercial bank credit has locked our economy in a vicious circle of forced growth and increasing debt.
Parallax of Growth is not a catalogue of solutions to the ecological or the economic crisis. The book aims to shift the inquiry from what shall we do? to why have we not already done it? In order to address the challenges of our contemporary times of crisis, it is not enough to point out all the different reasons why perpetual economic growth is impossible and unsustainable. We need to understand how the idea of growth is deeply ingrained in the ideology as well as the organization of our society. The book aims to open the space for philosophical thinking about this important issue.
