Values, Motives, and Methods of Downshifting
– Down-shifters adopt long-term voluntary simplicity in their lives.
– Practices include accepting less money for fewer hours worked and consuming less to reduce ecological footprint.
– Motivations for downshifting include gaining leisure time, escaping the work-and-spend cycle, and removing unnecessary possessions.
– Goals of downshifting are reaching self-understanding and finding meaning in life.
– Downshifting attracts participants from all socioeconomic backgrounds and cultivates higher levels of civic engagement and social interaction.
– Downshifting involves a variety of behavioral and lifestyle changes.
– Majority of downshifts are voluntary choices, but can also be prompted by life events.
– Downshifting can be temporary or permanent.
– Work and income downshifting is the most common form, driven by dissatisfaction with workplace conditions.
– Career downshifts involve lowering aspirations of wealth or social status.
Work and Income Downshifting
– Work downshifting is a voluntary reduction in annual income to prioritize non-work-related activities.
– Reducing work hours or not working overtime are examples of work downshifts.
– Career downshifts involve quitting a job to work locally, from home, or start a business.
– Reasons for work downshifting include high stress, pressure to increase productivity, and long commutes.
– Work downshifting can lead to health benefits and a healthy retirement.
Spending Habits and Consumerism
– Downshifting involves being a conscious consumer and practicing alternative forms of consumption.
– Consumerism is seen as a source of stress and dissatisfaction.
– Downshifters focus on quality of life rather than quantity of material possessions.
– They are generally less brand-conscious and prioritize functional utility over status.
– Reducing spending is a minor lifestyle change compared to other downshifting areas.
Policies that Enable Downshifting
– Unions, businesses, and governments can implement flexible working hours and part-time work arrangements.
– Small business legislation and reduced tax rates encourage individual entrepreneurship.
– These policies enable people to work less while maintaining employment.
– Reduced filing requirements support individuals in quitting their jobs and working for themselves.
– Policies that enable downshifting contribute to a more balanced and fulfilling lifestyle.
Sociopolitical Implications and Similar Movements
– Downshifting defines societal overconsumption as the source of personal discontent.
– Downshifters coexist in a society and political system focused on the economy.
– Mainstream politicians mobilize voters with economic solutions, which are irrelevant to downshifters.
– Approximately 20 to 25 percent of citizens in the US, UK, and Australia identify as downshifters.
– Downshifting values appear in political debates and campaigns.
– The Cultural Creatives is another social movement diverging from mainstream consumerism.
– At least a quarter of US citizens follow the ideology and practices of the Cultural Creatives.
– Downshifting and simple living are related to the global slow movement.
– Downshifting and similar ideologies represent unorganized social movements.
– These movements have grassroots nature and non-confrontational subcultures. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downshifting_(lifestyle)
In social behavior, downshifting is a trend where individuals adopt simpler lives from what critics call the "rat race".
The long-term effect of downshifting can include an escape from what has been described as economic materialism, as well as reduce the "stress and psychological expense that may accompany economic materialism". This new social trend emphasizes finding an improved balance between leisure and work, while also focusing life goals on personal fulfillment, as well as building personal relationships instead of the all-consuming pursuit of economic success.
Downshifting, as a concept, shares characteristics with simple living. However, it is distinguished as an alternative form by its focus on moderate change and concentration on an individual comfort level and a gradual approach to living. In the 1990s, this new form of simple living began appearing in the mainstream media, and has continually grown in popularity among populations living in industrial societies, especially the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia, as well as Russia.
