Unconditional Freedom
Universal Basic Income and Social Power
How Universal Basic Income could liberate the working class
As the rich get richer, taking more of our wealth, our democratic freedoms are also in danger. The elite are gaining large profits without duly contributing to society, hollowing out our public services and institutions and preventing the vast majority of us from living our lives fully and developing productive and reproductive projects of our own.
In Unconditional Freedom, David Casassas argues that for us to live freely, we need unconditional resources such as Universal Basic Income. In a sharp and lucid analysis of the power of 'pre-distributing' resources, he shows that UBI would not only liberate us from the nightmare of precarious employment, but that it would also increase our bargaining power as a class, opening doors to democratising our lives.
While it would be naïve to say that UBI alone would put an end to capitalist social relations, Casassas convincingly argues that it would help pave the way for social emancipation.
''This is a very important and timely book. The focus on 'social power' adds a new and much needed societal dimension to research and debate about basic income in an age of economic and political upheaval. This excellent book … is a must-read for anyone wanting to gain a broader perspective on basic income reform.'
'A useful, militant book, useful because it clearly, rigorously, and skilfully sets out the basic principles of the universal basic income, and militant because it doesn’t hide its position, which I’d describe as radical. In this, [Casassas] follows the advice of our mutual friend and teachermentor, Antoni Domènech, for whom, "If you don’t know how to be sufficiently radical, you’ll always end up in the folly of hyperrealism."'
- Daniel Raventós, author of 'Basic Income: The Material Conditions of Freedom''An ethical defence of basic income constructed on the value of republican freedom, an important proposal in an era of rentier capitalism that allows plutocrats to pocket more and more wealth. We need a new system of distribution with basic income acting as an anchor.'
- Guy Standing, author of 'The Corruption of Capitalism''Casassas firmly retraces the Republican case for basic income to its traditional Left-wing origins of combatting structural domination and unequal social power. A timely anti-dote to those propagating the myth of basic income as a trojan horse of the Right!'
- Jurgen De Wispelaere, Visiting Professor, Götz Werner Chair of Economic Policy & Constitutional Theory, University of Freiburg'David's path-breaking work throws new light on how we understand work, freedom, and emancipation in today's highly precariatised and insecure world. He is provocative and equally tender in his treatment of human condition in our particular moment of capitalist evolution, painstakingly sketching what true emancipation looks and feels like, and what role a basic income could play in the process. A must-read for students and teachers, policymakers and activists who are keen to make this world a better place for all of us.'
- Sarath Davala, Sociologist, Chair, Basic Income Earth Network'A carefully argued case for basic income as central to a democratic transformation of society. Basic income must be seen not just as an anti-poverty policy but as a means for achieving both individual socio-economic independence and collective self-government. It can become the fulcrum around which lack of freedom within employment, domestic life and throughout social life more generally can be confronted. [It] can thus be seen as vital for solving a political problem, which also demands the appropriate universalist policies and structure of rights to uphold unconditional freedom for everyone.'
- Carole Pateman, political theorist, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science UCLAAcknowledgements
Introduction
Part One: Cartographies Of Social (Dis)Order: Why Something Like a Basic Income?
1. Psychosociology and Politics of Elitist Verticalism
2. The Fallacy of Autogenous Social Orders
3. The Liberal-Organicist Synthesis
4. Resisting Tutelage: Fraternity for the Civilising of a Conflictive World
Part Two: Holding the Gaze: Republicanism and Democracy
5. Socioeconomic Independence and Worlds in Common
6. Bargaining Power: Exit Options for Entry Doors and the Emancipatory Potential of Basic Income
7. Universalisation of Citizenship and Universalisation of Property
8. Unconditional Freedom: Basic Income as Predistribution
Part Three: Flexible, Multi-Active Lives: The Dimensions of Social Power
9. Basic Income and Democratisation of Work
10. Why Do We Want Bargaining Power?
11. Our Flexibility Is Our Freedom
Part Four: The Dream Is Over: Post-Neoliberalism (or Why a Basic Income Now And How)
12. “Wanting Everything Back”: Basic Income in Contemporary Social Movements
13. Societies of the Market or Societies with Markets?
14. Grappling with Customs in Common: A People’s Political Economy?
15. Leaving the Proletariat and Becoming Free Workers
Epilogue: Unconditional Freedom at the Frontiers of Capitalism
Bibliography
Index
eBook ISBN: 9780745348643
140mm x 216mm