Austerity as liberatory technology

Obviously, in this context, we mean voluntary austerity, not the type of austerity plan imposed on a population as part of a program of market-based reforms. Voluntary austerity means cheap living as an art form. It can also be a religious thing. Voluntary austerity in pursuit of anagory takes the monastic formula of “poverty, celibacy and obedience,” drops obedience, suggests (but by no means requires) the substitution of family planning for celibacy, and studied economic minimalism for poverty.