I came across the book “Marx in the Anthropocene” from a Guardian article in 2022. Since then, I kept an eye on the English translation and ordered the book over the summer.
The book “Marx in the Anthropocene” by Kohei Saito critiques capitalism’s negative impact on the environment and suggests Marxist ideas could help achieve sustainable degrowth.
Degrowth as a concept advocates for a future that balances ecological limits with human well-being and social equity.
Also, I’m doing an injustice to Saito’s work on Marx by skipping the parts where he attempts to overcome the divide between Marxism and degrowth.
The internal conflicts of the capitalist system
The central imperative of capitalism is continuous growth and capital accumulation.
As Saito points out, this pursuit of relentless productivity and growth inevitably leads to environmental degradation. Despite the finite nature of the earth’s resources, capitalism is driven to constantly push these limits, leading to environmental degradation as a by-product of its pursuit of productivity and growth.
The fundamental issue behind the climate crisis is the attempt to amass endless wealth on a planet with limited resources.
–
One of the most striking side lessons for me was Saito’s insight into capitalism’s role in turning what were once luxuries into perceived necessities.
The idea that capitalism turns luxuries into necessities and promotes an ‘imperial mode of living’ alludes to the way capitalist modes of production and consumption have developed, setting new living standards that far exceed mere survival.
As time passes, items and services previously seen as luxurious gradually become seen as essential. This change in mindset is propelled by the inherent drive of capitalism to constantly find new markets and boost consumption levels:
- Consumer Culture: Capitalism promotes consumer culture where people buy more than necessary for survival.
- Artificial Needs: Capitalism creates unnecessary desires through advertising and media.
- Credit Systems: Credit systems allow spending beyond means, pushing a higher standard of living.
- Environmental Impact: More consumption leads to more resource use and environmental harm. For example, the demand for certain “necessary” consumer electronics has led to mining practices that harm ecosystems and communities.
- Global Inequality: The consumer lifestyle relies on exploiting labor and resources from Global South, worsening global inequalities.
Imagining a post-capitalist world
Instead of living in technological utopia in the hope of overcoming the ecological crisis and continuing to live as before, the book makes four proposals for replacing the capitalist logic of endless growth and profit:
- Introduction of social control of production in order to prevent the wasteful and destructive tendencies of capitalist development. In practise, this can mean regulating the advertising and use of SUVs or banning planned obsolescence.
- Establishment of different organizational models for social production with freely associated producers instead of the capitalist mode of production, which has monopolistic tendencies. Instead of “locking technologies”, we should strive for “open technologies” that can be operated by local cooperatives, such as favoring solar panels over nuclear power plants.
- Healing the “metabolic rift” by reintroducing sustainable production practices.
- Shifting the focus from the valorization of capital to the production of use-value that satisfy real and finite human needs. This means that we need to move away from boosting GDP growth by creating artificial needs and wants. Instead, we should focus on sectors that don’t generate profit and that are currently underdeveloped under capitalism. Sectors such as education, care work, the arts, sport and public transport.
These suggestions aim to create a system that prioritizes environmental sustainability, social justice and the fulfillment of human needs.
However, I think that for a new system we also need a new concept of abundance and progress. This new understanding would allow us to envision a society in which mass production, consumption and waste are avoided.