Degrowth and Educative Deconstruction of the Neoliberal Subject: Alternatives to Build up a Sustainable Society

Abstract

The paper makes a literary review of degrowth pedagogy. Degrowth has become one of the fundamental approaches posed to survive in a world of limited resources and to face the profound causes of the current crisis. Learning to live better with less turns out to be not a moral postulate but a vital necessity of our species. The paper analyses the current investigations in the field, as well as the relevant publications in 88 peer review articles, focused on degrowth published between 2006 and 2019, including 41 proposals for action, among which 14 are specialized in the field of education. The conclusions point to the urgent and imperative need to change economic and environmental policies, but also mentalities. Decolonising the collective dominant imaginary trapped in consumerism and individualism; educating in a collective and shared lifestyle of voluntary sobriety; deconstructing the productivist reason and adopting an alternative model of eco social future in the unique world we have. The education and the school, as discussed in the paper, has a fundamental role to play in this endeavor.