JS-33.3
Downshifting – a Silent Movement Towards Alternative Ways of Living and Working

Tuesday, 17 July 2018: 18:00
Location: 501 (MTCC SOUTH BUILDING)
Oral Presentation
Julia GRUHLICH, Göttingen University, Germany
In Germany, since the financial crises the discourse on downshifting attracted growing attention. The phenomenon is continuously visible especially in manager-magazines, coaching, and self-help literature. Here, the term downshifting stands for the individual’s voluntary decision against the growth imperative in the context of work and career and entails a reduction of work hours, income, spending, and job responsibilities. Looking at this discourse, the most popular impression is that downshifting is the preserve of a privileged set of wealthy middle-class people. However, considering that employment and a strong work ethic are the centerpiece of capitalist societies, I argue that downshifters may have a broader impact on society. Furthermore, the middle-class tends to be a major preservative force in society and their lifestyle serves as a normative model. Therefore, downshifter can be understood as part of a silent revolution for a radically different society.

The intent of this paper is twofold: First, I will shed light on downshifter lifestyles. I explore what makes this movement special. Second, I will highlight its formation conditions. I examine what are the driving forces of these downshifters. Based on an ongoing research project that comprises a document analysis of the downshifter discourse in Germany and 19 biographic interviews with downshifters, I show that downshifting is essentially individualistic, white, middle class, and middle aged. Downshifters do not identify themselves as a political or social movement. They are neither well-defined nor well-organized. However, they form a collective phenomenon by questioning the growth imperative in their daily life. Downshifting is a pragmatic kind of criticism and it refers to imbedded social pathologies of flexible capitalism, but even more: It offers concrete visions for alternative ways of living and working.