Conclusion: The Scope of Responsible Stagnation
Our final chapter reaffirms how 'responsible stagnation' (RS) can incorporate a different set of values and measures into an a-growth understanding of innovation. It argues for greater circulation of novel ideas to help mitigate the environmental and social damage inevitable if we continue to prioritize GDP-measured growth and suggests that many of these are already in the system. Rather than creating an impediment to the quest for progress, the chapter demonstrates how RS, as an integral component of responsible innovation and not its antithesis, provides a framing mechanism through which assumptions about growth can be made visible and questioned. This opens possibilities for innovation directed at achieving social, ecological and economic equilibrium and for reducing input rather than always seeking to produce more. It concludes by examining the part that both innovation and stagnation will have to play in the transition to a more sustainable, more socially equitable society.