The Great Deceleration is coming, says DANNY DORLING

We’re conditioned to think that economic development will get faster and faster. But it turns out that many key indicators from population growth to GDP expansion are slowing down. DANNY DORLING, social geographer and author of Slowdown: The End Of The Great Acceleration and Inequality And The 1%, talks to Ros Taylor about the coming Great Deceleration – why inequality is clearly the strongest indicator of mental wellbeing – why most of we hear about the Brexit-hungry “left behinds” is nonsense – and why our slow future was already taking shape before the COVID lockdown. 

• “Important indicators like population are rising – but not as fast we think they are.” 
• “Acceleration was so lauded in the past because we were improving living standards… but we’ve gone way past that. Simply consuming more won’t make us happier.” 
• “Half of the British population is on the edge of being financially insecure and in fact destitute in the near future.” 
• “If your told since birth that you’re the best in the world, then seeing your kids incapable of supporting or housing themselves is hard to accept.” 
• “We’re living under a misconception that this is an age of acceleration. Compared to our grandparents’ time, it’s an age of slowdown.”

Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producer Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices