Matthias Schmelzer
Biographic Data
| ID | 216878 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matthias Schmelzer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matthias |
| FAMILY NAME | Schmelzer |
| SIGNATURE | SCHMELZER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Europa-Universität Flensburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3987-1930 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 245 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Introduction. Global (Inter)dependencies and Degrowth: Towards an Analytical Framework
So far, degrowth scholarship remains largely shaped by a form of methodological localism or nationalism that risks reproducing current asymmetric and colonial relations on the global scale. Against this background, our introduction to the forum argues that degrowth can only adequately be theorized through the lens of global (inter)dependencies: structurally reproduced relations of dependence and mutual entanglement that operate across national bo…
Defining growth dependence
Many socio-economic systems require positive economic growth rates to function properly. These growth dependencies pose serious challenges given uncertainty about future growth rates and the role of economic growth as a driver of environmental crises. Thus, identifying and transforming socio-economic systems that currently rely on growth for their adequate functioning is a crucial step towards effective sustainability transformations. To facilita…
Degrowth and Environmental History: Toward Critical Encounters
The dialectic of civilisation: Norbert Elias, the triad of controls, and social- ecological transformation
This paper revisits Norbert Elias’s theory of the civilising process in light of the ecological, economic, and political transformations of the 21st century. It argues that Elias’s triad of controls – over the self (psychogenesis), over others (sociogenesis), and over nature (ecogenesis) – provides a powerful but incomplete framework for understanding modern social development. By reinterpreting economic growth as a historically specific articula…
Exploring the degrowth movement: A survey of conceptualisations, strategies, and tactics
Degrowth – the downscaling of production and consumption to reduce ecological footprints, planned democratically in a way that is equitable while securing wellbeing – is emerging as an alternative strategy for social-ecological transformation. While research on degrowth as a scientific concept is burgeoning, there are few studies exploring the strategies and tactics that may be necessary for social movements to achieve social-ecological transform…
Economic growth dependencies and imperatives: A review of key theories and their conflicts
Der neue sozial-ökologische Klassenkonflikt: Mentalitäts- und Interessengegensätze im Streit um Transformation
Wie lässt sich angesichts der krisenhaften sozialen, politischen und ökologischen Herausforderungen der Gegenwart die gesellschaftliche Konfliktlage verstehen, aus der der Aufstieg der AfD, die Bauernproteste oder der Streit um Klimaaktivismus hervorgehen? Auf der Grundlage einer repräsentativen Bevölkerungsbefragung stellt das Buch eine empirisch fundierte soziologische Basis zur Beantwortung dieser Frage vor und vermeidet dabei vereinfachende L…
Fossil mentalities: How fossil fuels have shaped social imaginaries
With the concept of “fossil mentalities” and “fossil imaginaries” we introduce an analytical toolkit for historically informed and socially differentiated research on the interactions between pre-fossil, fossil, and post-fossil energy regimes on the one hand and societal patterns of perception, feelings, and action on the other. The paper starts by combining arguments from the history of mentalities and sociological analyzes of relational social …
Degrowth and Masculinities: Towards a gendered understanding of degrowth subjectivities
Democratic Planning for Degrowth
Degrowth promises to liberate society from the imperative of capital accumulation. "So how," Matthas Schmelzer and Elena Hofferberth wonder, "might planning beyond growth look?" It is not, they write, only a proposal for a postcapitalist society, but for a radical transformation of our institutions and social relations to create a more sustainable and just world
From Luddites to limits? Towards a systematization of growth critiques in historical perspective
While economic growth is still at the centre of politics around the world, driven by economic crises and ecological breakdown critiques of growth as well as calls for post-growth or degrowth are on the rise. This paper advances a systematization of various currents of growth critiques in historical perspective. Going beyond standard accounts, it demonstrates that next to a narrow and mainly ecological critique of growth, which emerged starting in…
Zukunft für alle: Eine Vision für 2048: gerecht. ökologisch. machbar.
Markedsliggørelsens markedsføring - Neoliberale ekspert-, rådgivnings og lobbynetværker
This article takes stock of the current literature on neoliberalism and discusses its conceptual benefits, challenges, and avenues for further research. In particular, the article focuses on the transnational network around the Mont Pèlerin Society (MPS) and its activities in marketing the marketization of formerly non-market spheres. Rather than taking for granted pre-existing shared norms, interests, and principled beliefs, this focus helps us …
The Degrowth Spectrum: Convergence and Divergence within a Diverse and Conflictual Alliance
The call for ‘sustainable degrowth’ has recently turned into a focal point of critical social and ecological debate, as well as a framework for diverse strands of activism. So far, little is known about the motives, attitudes and practices of grassroots activists within the degrowth spectrum. This article presents results of a survey conducted at the 2014 International Degrowth Conference, revealing both the presence of a widely shared basic cons…
Research On Degrowth
Scholars and activists mobilize increasingly the term degrowth when producing knowledge critical of the ideology and costs of growth-based development. Degrowth signals a radical political and economic reorganization leading to reduced resource and energy use. The degrowth hypothesis posits that such a trajectory of social transformation is necessary, desirable, and possible; the conditions of its realization require additional study. Research on…
History of the Future of Economic Growth: Historical Roots of Current Debates on Sustainable Degrowth
Sustainable degrowth
This chapter focuses on some key passages in the longer-term history of the precursors and roots of the current degrowth alternative along three main ideal-typical paths: the English-speaking critique of economic growth; the Southern European degrowth perspective; and the German discussions about alternatives to growth. Skepticism of economic growth and the search for alternatives are on the rise. The English-speaking debate on economic growth ha…
Postwachstumspolitiken, Wege zur wachstumsunabhängigen Gesellschaft: Wege zur wachstumsunabhängigen Gesellschaft
Born in the corridors of the OECD’: The forgotten origins of the Club of Rome, transnational networks, and the 1970s in global history
This article re-examines a contested chapter in the international and environmental history of the 1970s. Even though largely neglected by historical research and in the public memory, the Club of Rome – widely remembered for its 1972 report The limits to growth – was not only born within the OECD, but was also in its early period strongly influenced by debates within this think tank of the industrialized countries. Using previously overlooked so…
History of the Future of Economic Growth: Historical Roots of Current Debates on Sustainable Degrowth
The future of economic growth is one of the decisive questions of the twenty-first century. Alarmed by declining growth rates in industrialized countries, climate change, and rising socio-economic inequalities, among other challenges, more and more people demand to look for alternatives beyond growth. However, so far these current debates about sustainability, post-growth or degrowth lack a thorough historical perspective. This edited volume brin…
The Hegemony of Growth: The OECD and the Making of the Economic Growth Paradigm
In modern society, economic growth is considered to be the primary goal pursued through policymaking. But when and how did this perception become widely adopted among social scientists, politicians and the general public? Focusing on the OECD, one of the least understood international organisations, Schmelzer offers the first transnational study to chart the history of growth discourses. He reveals how the pursuit of GDP growth emerged as a socie…
The growth paradigm: History, hegemony, and the contested making of economic growthmanship
Expandiere oder stirb: Wachstumsziele, die OECD und die Steigerungslogik wirtschaftlicher Expansion
When, how and why did the expectation of exponential economic growth emerge historically? This article explores this question through a transnational historical analysis of economic and policy-making expertise within the debates of the industrialized countries’ think tank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and its predecessor, the OEEC. It focuses in particular on the setting of growth targets in the years 1952, 196…
The crisis before the crisis: The ‘problems of modern society’ and the OECD, 1968–74
‘Economic crisis’ is conventionally understood as the absence of economic growth. However, far from being straightforward and self-explanatory, this understanding is itself an expression of a very particular ensemble of statistical techniques, economic theory, state practices and broader societal beliefs; it is not adequate for the historical analysis of what people have historically perceived as economic crises. This article aims at illustrating…
Marketing morals, moralizing markets: Assessing the effectiveness of fair trade as a form of boycott
Fair trade is one of the fastest growing markets globally. It is generally analysed as epitomizing the efforts of citizen-consumers to use the marketplace as a means of fostering social and political goals in a globalized world.The long historical roots of fair trade, however, are neglected both in historical research and in current debates on the benefits and pitfalls of fair trade. This article gives short comparative historical accounts of thr…
Research On Degrowth
Scholars and activists mobilize increasingly the term degrowth when producing knowledge critical of the ideology and costs of growth-based development. Degrowth signals a radical political and economic reorganization leading to reduced resource and energy use. The degrowth hypothesis posits that such a trajectory of social transformation is necessary, desirable, and possible; the conditions of its realization require additional study. Research on…
The growth paradigm: History, hegemony, and the contested making of economic growthmanship
The crisis before the crisis: The ‘problems of modern society’ and the OECD, 1968–74
‘Economic crisis’ is conventionally understood as the absence of economic growth. However, far from being straightforward and self-explanatory, this understanding is itself an expression of a very particular ensemble of statistical techniques, economic theory, state practices and broader societal beliefs; it is not adequate for the historical analysis of what people have historically perceived as economic crises. This article aims at illustrating…
Fossil mentalities: How fossil fuels have shaped social imaginaries
With the concept of “fossil mentalities” and “fossil imaginaries” we introduce an analytical toolkit for historically informed and socially differentiated research on the interactions between pre-fossil, fossil, and post-fossil energy regimes on the one hand and societal patterns of perception, feelings, and action on the other. The paper starts by combining arguments from the history of mentalities and sociological analyzes of relational social …
Born in the corridors of the OECD’: The forgotten origins of the Club of Rome, transnational networks, and the 1970s in global history
This article re-examines a contested chapter in the international and environmental history of the 1970s. Even though largely neglected by historical research and in the public memory, the Club of Rome – widely remembered for its 1972 report The limits to growth – was not only born within the OECD, but was also in its early period strongly influenced by debates within this think tank of the industrialized countries. Using previously overlooked so…
Expandiere oder stirb: Wachstumsziele, die OECD und die Steigerungslogik wirtschaftlicher Expansion
When, how and why did the expectation of exponential economic growth emerge historically? This article explores this question through a transnational historical analysis of economic and policy-making expertise within the debates of the industrialized countries’ think tank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and its predecessor, the OEEC. It focuses in particular on the setting of growth targets in the years 1952, 196…
Economic growth dependencies and imperatives: A review of key theories and their conflicts
Marketing morals, moralizing markets: Assessing the effectiveness of fair trade as a form of boycott
Fair trade is one of the fastest growing markets globally. It is generally analysed as epitomizing the efforts of citizen-consumers to use the marketplace as a means of fostering social and political goals in a globalized world.The long historical roots of fair trade, however, are neglected both in historical research and in current debates on the benefits and pitfalls of fair trade. This article gives short comparative historical accounts of thr…
Exploring the degrowth movement: A survey of conceptualisations, strategies, and tactics
Degrowth – the downscaling of production and consumption to reduce ecological footprints, planned democratically in a way that is equitable while securing wellbeing – is emerging as an alternative strategy for social-ecological transformation. While research on degrowth as a scientific concept is burgeoning, there are few studies exploring the strategies and tactics that may be necessary for social movements to achieve social-ecological transform…
Marketing morals, moralizing markets: Assessing the effectiveness of fair trade as a form of boycott
Fair trade is one of the fastest growing markets globally. It is generally analysed as epitomizing the efforts of citizen-consumers to use the marketplace as a means of fostering social and political goals in a globalized world.The long historical roots of fair trade, however, are neglected both in historical research and in current debates on the benefits and pitfalls of fair trade. This article gives short comparative historical accounts of thr…
The crisis before the crisis: The ‘problems of modern society’ and the OECD, 1968–74
‘Economic crisis’ is conventionally understood as the absence of economic growth. However, far from being straightforward and self-explanatory, this understanding is itself an expression of a very particular ensemble of statistical techniques, economic theory, state practices and broader societal beliefs; it is not adequate for the historical analysis of what people have historically perceived as economic crises. This article aims at illustrating…
The growth paradigm: History, hegemony, and the contested making of economic growthmanship
Expandiere oder stirb: Wachstumsziele, die OECD und die Steigerungslogik wirtschaftlicher Expansion
When, how and why did the expectation of exponential economic growth emerge historically? This article explores this question through a transnational historical analysis of economic and policy-making expertise within the debates of the industrialized countries’ think tank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and its predecessor, the OEEC. It focuses in particular on the setting of growth targets in the years 1952, 196…
The Hegemony of Growth: The OECD and the Making of the Economic Growth Paradigm
In modern society, economic growth is considered to be the primary goal pursued through policymaking. But when and how did this perception become widely adopted among social scientists, politicians and the general public? Focusing on the OECD, one of the least understood international organisations, Schmelzer offers the first transnational study to chart the history of growth discourses. He reveals how the pursuit of GDP growth emerged as a socie…
History of the Future of Economic Growth: Historical Roots of Current Debates on Sustainable Degrowth
Sustainable degrowth
This chapter focuses on some key passages in the longer-term history of the precursors and roots of the current degrowth alternative along three main ideal-typical paths: the English-speaking critique of economic growth; the Southern European degrowth perspective; and the German discussions about alternatives to growth. Skepticism of economic growth and the search for alternatives are on the rise. The English-speaking debate on economic growth ha…
Postwachstumspolitiken, Wege zur wachstumsunabhängigen Gesellschaft: Wege zur wachstumsunabhängigen Gesellschaft
Born in the corridors of the OECD’: The forgotten origins of the Club of Rome, transnational networks, and the 1970s in global history
This article re-examines a contested chapter in the international and environmental history of the 1970s. Even though largely neglected by historical research and in the public memory, the Club of Rome – widely remembered for its 1972 report The limits to growth – was not only born within the OECD, but was also in its early period strongly influenced by debates within this think tank of the industrialized countries. Using previously overlooked so…
History of the Future of Economic Growth: Historical Roots of Current Debates on Sustainable Degrowth
The future of economic growth is one of the decisive questions of the twenty-first century. Alarmed by declining growth rates in industrialized countries, climate change, and rising socio-economic inequalities, among other challenges, more and more people demand to look for alternatives beyond growth. However, so far these current debates about sustainability, post-growth or degrowth lack a thorough historical perspective. This edited volume brin…
The Degrowth Spectrum: Convergence and Divergence within a Diverse and Conflictual Alliance
The call for ‘sustainable degrowth’ has recently turned into a focal point of critical social and ecological debate, as well as a framework for diverse strands of activism. So far, little is known about the motives, attitudes and practices of grassroots activists within the degrowth spectrum. This article presents results of a survey conducted at the 2014 International Degrowth Conference, revealing both the presence of a widely shared basic cons…
Research On Degrowth
Scholars and activists mobilize increasingly the term degrowth when producing knowledge critical of the ideology and costs of growth-based development. Degrowth signals a radical political and economic reorganization leading to reduced resource and energy use. The degrowth hypothesis posits that such a trajectory of social transformation is necessary, desirable, and possible; the conditions of its realization require additional study. Research on…
Zukunft für alle: Eine Vision für 2048: gerecht. ökologisch. machbar.
Markedsliggørelsens markedsføring - Neoliberale ekspert-, rådgivnings og lobbynetværker
This article takes stock of the current literature on neoliberalism and discusses its conceptual benefits, challenges, and avenues for further research. In particular, the article focuses on the transnational network around the Mont Pèlerin Society (MPS) and its activities in marketing the marketization of formerly non-market spheres. Rather than taking for granted pre-existing shared norms, interests, and principled beliefs, this focus helps us …
From Luddites to limits? Towards a systematization of growth critiques in historical perspective
While economic growth is still at the centre of politics around the world, driven by economic crises and ecological breakdown critiques of growth as well as calls for post-growth or degrowth are on the rise. This paper advances a systematization of various currents of growth critiques in historical perspective. Going beyond standard accounts, it demonstrates that next to a narrow and mainly ecological critique of growth, which emerged starting in…
Degrowth and Masculinities: Towards a gendered understanding of degrowth subjectivities
Democratic Planning for Degrowth
Degrowth promises to liberate society from the imperative of capital accumulation. "So how," Matthas Schmelzer and Elena Hofferberth wonder, "might planning beyond growth look?" It is not, they write, only a proposal for a postcapitalist society, but for a radical transformation of our institutions and social relations to create a more sustainable and just world
Der neue sozial-ökologische Klassenkonflikt: Mentalitäts- und Interessengegensätze im Streit um Transformation
Wie lässt sich angesichts der krisenhaften sozialen, politischen und ökologischen Herausforderungen der Gegenwart die gesellschaftliche Konfliktlage verstehen, aus der der Aufstieg der AfD, die Bauernproteste oder der Streit um Klimaaktivismus hervorgehen? Auf der Grundlage einer repräsentativen Bevölkerungsbefragung stellt das Buch eine empirisch fundierte soziologische Basis zur Beantwortung dieser Frage vor und vermeidet dabei vereinfachende L…
Fossil mentalities: How fossil fuels have shaped social imaginaries
With the concept of “fossil mentalities” and “fossil imaginaries” we introduce an analytical toolkit for historically informed and socially differentiated research on the interactions between pre-fossil, fossil, and post-fossil energy regimes on the one hand and societal patterns of perception, feelings, and action on the other. The paper starts by combining arguments from the history of mentalities and sociological analyzes of relational social …
The dialectic of civilisation: Norbert Elias, the triad of controls, and social- ecological transformation
This paper revisits Norbert Elias’s theory of the civilising process in light of the ecological, economic, and political transformations of the 21st century. It argues that Elias’s triad of controls – over the self (psychogenesis), over others (sociogenesis), and over nature (ecogenesis) – provides a powerful but incomplete framework for understanding modern social development. By reinterpreting economic growth as a historically specific articula…
Exploring the degrowth movement: A survey of conceptualisations, strategies, and tactics
Degrowth – the downscaling of production and consumption to reduce ecological footprints, planned democratically in a way that is equitable while securing wellbeing – is emerging as an alternative strategy for social-ecological transformation. While research on degrowth as a scientific concept is burgeoning, there are few studies exploring the strategies and tactics that may be necessary for social movements to achieve social-ecological transform…
Economic growth dependencies and imperatives: A review of key theories and their conflicts
Introduction. Global (Inter)dependencies and Degrowth: Towards an Analytical Framework
So far, degrowth scholarship remains largely shaped by a form of methodological localism or nationalism that risks reproducing current asymmetric and colonial relations on the global scale. Against this background, our introduction to the forum argues that degrowth can only adequately be theorized through the lens of global (inter)dependencies: structurally reproduced relations of dependence and mutual entanglement that operate across national bo…
Defining growth dependence
Many socio-economic systems require positive economic growth rates to function properly. These growth dependencies pose serious challenges given uncertainty about future growth rates and the role of economic growth as a driver of environmental crises. Thus, identifying and transforming socio-economic systems that currently rely on growth for their adequate functioning is a crucial step towards effective sustainability transformations. To facilita…
Degrowth and Environmental History: Toward Critical Encounters
Economics (12 works) · Political science (11 works) · Degrowth (9 works) · Biology (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Ecology (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Sustainability (6 works) · Economic and Social Issues (5 works)