What does degrowth do in/to empirical research? Methodological deliberations on placing degrowth ‘in the world’

Vandeventer, James Scott ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9712-1479 and Schmid, Benedikt (2024) What does degrowth do in/to empirical research? Methodological deliberations on placing degrowth ‘in the world’. Ecological Economics, 221. 108206. ISSN 0921-8009

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Abstract

This paper investigates how the notion of degrowth directs our focus as researchers, which leads us to deliberate on the consequences of empirically placing degrowth ‘in the world.’ We propose to rethink methodological questions about how phenomena are put into relation with notions of degrowth (or not) – and our own role as researchers in this process. Mobilizing the concept of diffraction, we argue that careful attention must be paid to what notions of ‘degrowth’ do in/to our research practices, including their role in researchers' selecting, thinking and talking about social phenomena – as well as the material and discursive practices encountered in fieldwork. This is illustrated through engagement with two studies, which undertook research on a housing community in Manchester (United Kingdom) and eco-social entrepreneurs in Stuttgart (Germany). Analyzing these cases with a diffractive lens, we show how an attunement to difference allows for attention to be paid to the ‘translation’ and ‘operationalization’ of degrowth in (research) practice. This orientation, we suggest, can help scholars with the inevitable negotiations intrinsic to the choice of how and whether to engage with and understand degrowth in empirical research.