What does degrowth do in/to empirical research? Methodological deliberations on placing degrowth ‘in the world’
本文探讨去增长概念如何影响研究者的关注点，反思将去增长‘置于世界’的实证方法，通过两个案例展示衍射视角如何帮助学者处理研究中的选择与协商。
This paper investigates how the notion of degrowth directs our focus as researchers, which leads us to deliberate on the consequences of empirically placing degrowth ‘in the world.’ We propose to rethink methodological questions about how phenomena are put into relation with notions of degrowth (or not) – and our own role as researchers in this process. Mobilizing the concept of diffraction, we argue that careful attention must be paid to what notions of ‘degrowth’ do in/to our research practices, including their role in researchers' selecting, thinking and talking about social phenomena – as well as the material and discursive practices encountered in fieldwork. This is illustrated through engagement with two studies, which undertook research on a housing community in Manchester (United Kingdom) and eco-social entrepreneurs in Stuttgart (Germany). Analyzing these cases with a diffractive lens, we show how an attunement to difference allows for attention to be paid to the ‘translation’ and ‘operationalization’ of degrowth in (research) practice. This orientation, we suggest, can help scholars with the inevitable negotiations intrinsic to the choice of how and whether to engage with and understand degrowth in empirical research.