Inaugural CHRONOS politics of consumption seminar

Guest speaker: Professor Ruth Kinna, School of Social Sciences, Loughborough University

Venue: Bedford Square, London, Room 0-03

The seminar explores the relationship of anarchism to degrowth by asking three questions: how do anarchists theorise the drivers for consumption? What remedies have anarchists proposed to resolve the problems that current consumption patterns present? What alternative economic systems have anarchists imagined? To answer these questions, the paper outlines an anarchist critique of slavery and domination and shows how this shapes anarchist anticapitalism. Second, it examines varieties of anarchist anticapitalism, focusing on debates about technologies. Third, it sets out a utopian vision of anarchist exchange, illustrating the possibilities of non-dominating practice. The discussion uses examples from the history of anarchist ideas and contemporary political theory. Rather than defend anarchism as essential to degrowth, it attempts to show where the productive affinities to degrowth lie.

Short Bio

Ruth Kinna is a member of the Politics and International Studies section in the School of Social Sciences at Loughborough University. Her recent work (with Alex Prichard, Exeter University) explores the constitutional politics of anarchism. She has published widely on the history of anarchist ideas and anarchist political theory. A book The Government of No One: Anarchism in theory and practice (Penguin) will be published later this year.