Downshifting

The so-called "voluntary simplifiers" or "downshifters" promote a new lifestyle in reaction to the consumerism and exploitation of post-industrial societies. They advocate alternative lifestyle choices in a number of areas, in the pursuit of minimalism and asceticism, de-growth and anti-consumerism, self-sufficiency and sustainability. Simplifying one's life has proven valuable as a temporary answer to address the unrestrained race towards success and social competition without limits. But what about the durability of the choices? And on what basis does one decide to "live with less"? Unfortunately, voluntary practices for simplifying one's life often remain trapped in the body-mind dualism and anti-materialism, in the traditional ethical frame of spiritual inspiration leading to virtuous life. Moderation, simplification or the exclusion of wealth do not necessarily guarantee existential well-being. On the contrary, the quest for a peaceful, untroubled life can become a hidden source of unhappiness. This is why it is crucially important to examine why we choose to invent a simpler lifestyle, which brings us to take a closer look at the "primordial choice". Dualism Simplifying one's life is a recent trend in which individuals focus on improved existential comfort-one in which these individuals prioritize and make choices with a view to achieving more personal fulfilment and better relationships. Sometimes they tend to understand "simple life" by eliminating material abundance or by reducing the impact of professional success or career standards. Downshifting or the voluntary simplification of one's life thus makes people try to achieve a better balance between leisure and work, and devote their time to artistic activities rather than to paid labor. They thus value a moderate lifestyle in which the focus is on personal growth and on sustainable development. The process of trying to obtain a simpler life includes a wide range of possibilities, which have been experienced and described. Strangely enough, there has been little attention to the existential dimension of lifestyle transformation. To summarize, existing texts deal with problems of territoriality, financial issues, housing, environment or political activism, but have little or no interest in the basic motivation of a person's decision

The efficiency improvements achieved by adding idealized, top-mounted, down-conversion (DC) and luminescent down-shifting (LDS) layers to a commercial grade silicon solar cell are studied. A comparison is then made to silicon nanocrystals (Si-NC) LDS layer coupled to a silicon solar cell, where the optical properties of the Si-NC are based on measured data. Since the modeled  DC and LDS layers are electrically isolated from the solar cell, the devices are studied by modifying the incident AM1.5G spectrum according to the bandgap, absorption and emission profiles, and global efficiency of the DC and LDS layers. Simulation results indicate that a minimum DC/LDS efficiency of 1% is required to enhance the solar cell efficiency, and that this threshold rises to 38% for a Si-NC based LDS layer. Additionally, the incorporation of an optimal, perfectly efficient DC layer (200%) is shown to enhance the photovoltaic efficiency from 14.1% to 16.6% as opposed to
16.3% for a perfect LDS layer (100%).

“Downshifting”, reducing work hours, thereby income, to increase leisure time, offers a possible individual-level solution to the stress many experience from long working hours and work intensification. Recently, some have argued that an increase in leisure time with a reduction in income might also foster pro-environmental lifestyles as has been demonstrated for the “voluntary simplicity” movement. Quantitative research on the relationship between downshifting and quality of life is scant, with equivocal results, and studies of the relationship between downshifting and environmental lifestyles are even more rare. Survey data from a western Canadian city reveal non-significant impacts of downshifting on two measures of quality of life (subjective well-being and satisfaction with time-use) as well as on sustainable transportation practices. However, downshifting is significantly associated with sustainable household practices. In order for downshifting to have more widespread positive effects, further structural changes in broader domains such as work culture, urban design, and support for families will be required.

Урбанизационные процессы в России на современном этапе рассматриваются как исключительно однонаправленная тенденция перманентного роста крупных городов, сокращения малых и оттока населения из сельской местности. При этом упускаются из виду новые способы освоения городскими жителями сельской мест-ности и новые источники ресурсов для развития муниципалитетов. В статье проведены разбор теоретических концепций, объясняющих разные формы оттока населения из городов, и анализ результатов полевых исследований в малочисленных муниципалитетах, привлекающих переезжающих городских жителей.

El diseño de transporte de los países desarrollados, tanto académico como industrial, convive con paradojas relacionadas con los problemas de movilidad presentados en la mayoría de megaciudades del mundo, especialmente las latinoamericanas, debido a su abundante producción intelectual relacionada con el carro.
No obstante Latinoamérica no deja de alimentar aquella industria con sus más talentosos diseñadores, sin siquiera dar espacio a la reflexión acerca de la manera en que están alimentando el problema.
Este texto da cuenta de la forma de operar de Creatorio de Movilidad: organización bogotana creada para trabajar, desde la empresa privada, por mejorar las condiciones de movilidad de quienes habitan las ciudades latinoamericanas, revisando críticamente dos elementos fundamentales, a saber, el oficio del diseñador de transporte tal y como ejerce en los países potencia del sector y su impacto en Latinoamérica, y el impacto que el empresario tradicional genera –incluso en la movilidad- al seguir el canon tradicional de éxito organizacional, matizado por la acumulación de capital, de trabajo y la exaltación del mérito como instrumento validador de los anteriores.

La añoranza por la vida en el campo viene de antiguo. El bucolismo, que surgió como género literario, ha acabado por conformar una actitud vital. La “búsqueda de campo” y el “hastío de ciudad” son tendencias naturales del hombre. Varias corrientes y escuelas de pensamiento han desarrollado posturas afines al bucolismo. Desde los años 90 del pasado siglo algunos se han rebelado contra el excesivo progreso, propugnando el Downshifting. Con el advenimiento de la pandemia de COVID-19, no han sobrellevado el confinamiento igual quienes habitan una casa de campo y un apartamento urbano. Con la COVID-19 el tópico bucólico del beatus ille ha cobrado una sorprendente actualidad.

Обсуждаются психологический, экономический, политический, философский и социологический подходы к исследованию феномена дауншифтинга. В рамках психологического подхода проанализированы сущностные и причинные аспекты данного явления. Дауншифтинг рассматривается как особый стиль жизни, альтернативный способ достижения успеха, противоположность карьеризма, механизм психологической защиты, разновидность эскапизма, форма девиантного поведения или расстройство личности, проявление инфантилизации взрослых людей. Определены такие психологические причины дауншифтинга, как ролевой и ценностный конфликты, кризис среднего возраста, индивидуальные особенности биоритмов, профессиональное выгорание.
The article discusses psychological, economic, political, philosophical and sociological approaches to studying the phenomenon of downshifting. Within the psychological approach, the substantive and causal aspects of downshifting are analyzed. Downshifting is viewed as a specific way of life, an alternative way to achieving success opposed to careerism, a psychological defense mechanism, a kind of escapism, a form of deviant behavior or a personality disorder, a manifestation of infantilization in adults. Psychological reasons for downshifting, such as role and value conflicts, middle age crisis, individual features of biorhythms, and professional burnout are defined.

Migration to areas of high amenity is often motivated by lifestyle choices (sometimes referred to as the sea-change or tree-change phenomenon) and can include a desire to exchange the stress of career and work in the city for a slower pace of life. Areas of high
amenity are generally non-urban, coastal or rural, with high quality natural landscapes and/or sociocultural environments. Little is known about individuals’ experiences after such relocation and there is insufficient research to hypothesise about psychological outcomes. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith, 1995) was used in this preliminary study to analyse data from semi-structured interviews with individuals who had recently moved to Cara (pseudonym), an Australian semi-rural tourist destination known for its scenic, cultural, and social amenity. Analysis produced 4 themes: a) The fit between
the individual and the new location; b) Friendship and being a part of something vs. alienation and self-doubt; c) Making sense of social difficulties; and d) Relocation to an area of high amenity as an intense experience. Issues of identity and sense of self arose within almost every theme and employment status impacted in a variety of ways. Such relocation can be intensely positive, or intensely distressing, and avenues for research are identified, including possible interventions.

Предметом статьи является один из современных социальных феноменов — потребительский ретретизм, или «уход» от стиля жизни, считающегося «нормальным» в обществе потребления. На основе анализа западных и отечественных публикаций представлены содержание, мотивы, механизмы потребительского ретретизма, а также основные характеристики ассоциированного с ним стиля повседневной жизни. Предложена модель формирования такого стиля жизни, учитывающая как его поведенческую, так и концептуально-идеологическую стороны. Положения статьи проиллюстрированы данными собственного исследования случаев потребительского ретретизма на постсоветском пространстве (Россия, Украина).

The economic restructuring and corporate downsizing that has come to define the contemporary working world has made contingent, part-time, and temporary work a part of the American social landscape. In this chapter, life-style migrants describe challenging taken for granted assumptions of the American Dream as a framework, a moral horizon that orients and promises future reward for present day loyalty, hard work and self-sacrifice. The decision of how to live one’s life is made of more than simply economic choices, they are also moral. The case of life-style migration shows how people may attempt to be true to an emerging sense of an inner, authentic self, by using a notion of quality of life as a kind of personal moral compass. It involves seeking refuge through migration to new places that are believed to resonate with and support a life-style commitment. This chapter examines the relocation stories of life-style migrants to show how their attempts at work/family reorientation take place not only within culturally informed moral space of questions about what constitutes “the good,” what is worth doing and what is not, but also how it is bound up with their actual physical bearings in the world, with place itself.

AbstractThese research notes explore the political potential of online storytelling for the incipient downshifting movement in Romania. Qualitative content analysis techniques are used on a series of articles published in December 2012-January 2014 on www.totb.ro in order to reveal the political stake of the act of storytelling in cases of individual lifestyle changes. This political stake is the empowerment of citizens through individual change that catalyzes everyday dystopian experiences into utopia, into eu-topos, the good spaces where life and living are desired. The current notes summarize some key concepts on downshifting and make an introduction to the sociology of storytelling, while also elaborating some analytical observations on the empirical acts of storytelling in mediated environments.KeywordsDownshifting, storytelling, political action, empowerment, dystopia, utopiaIntroductionThe following research notes approach a series of mediated individual stories of downshifti...

This article looks at a relatively new phenomenon for Bulgaria – “downshifting” as it
is practised in two Bulgarian eco communities. Like similar movements in western
countries, in the past several years also in Bulgaria young, well educated people move
to rural and remote areas to live and raise their families outside the framework of paid
jobs and the comforts of city life. In the article I focus on the specific anti-materialist
and anti-capitalist ideas of the members of the eco-communities. Also, I follow the
alternative agricultural ideas of the founders of the communities, namely permaculture
and regenerative agriculture to see how they correspond to their anti-consumerist
ideologies, and if and how they offer alternative social and labour relations.
Finally, I pay attention to the utilization of free labour in the communities to show
that despite their attempts to exit the capitalist frame, “the new peasants” actually
integrate non-market ideas in market relations to secure the everyday existence of the
communities.