Simon Birnbaum
Biographic Data
| ID | 4016077 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Simon Birnbaum |
| GIVEN NAMES | Simon |
| FAMILY NAME | Birnbaum |
| SIGNATURE | BIRNBAUM S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Södertörn University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6765-918X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 36 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Universal Basic Income Within a Just Eco‐Social Transition
This article examines the potential of Universal Basic Income (UBI) to support a just eco‐social transition by enabling the emergence of new emancipatory social imaginaries and practices. Against the backdrop of ecological breakdown and deepening precarity under global capitalism, it explores how UBI may function as a democratic tool for socio‐ecological transformation. The argument centers on recent contributions that advocate for a UBI‐centered…
Basic Income—A Transformative Policy for Sustainable Welfare? Part 1
Is basic income (BI) a powerful tool for the green transformation of advanced welfare states? Since the early steps of green ideology formation, basic income‐oriented policies have been widely embraced by environmentally concerned thinkers, and key actors of the green movement. But even though discursive patterns that link basic income to ecological values are prominent and consistent over time, such claims often take the form of general suggesti…
Basic Income—A Transformative Policy for Sustainable Welfare? Part 2
There are compelling arguments for why basic income may be a powerful, transformative eco‐social policy tool in advanced welfare states. However, closer scrutiny reveals that the relationship between BI's ecological and social objectives is also marked by deep tensions. This second part of the article—Part 2 of 2—identifies and explores four paradoxes that seriously complicate the green case for basic income. These paradoxes help explain why the …
Religious faith and social justice
Is religious faith necessarily a barrier to the achievement of a just society? In This Life, Martin Hägglund answers ‘yes’, defending a form of political atheism based on the claim that a wholehearted commitment to social justice presupposes the recognition of humans as altogether finite, mortal beings. Hägglund’s thorough contribution offers a useful entry point for exploring widely perceived—but seldom articulated—obstacles to more conciliatory…
Exit strategy or exit trap? Basic income and the 'power to say no' in the age of precarious employment
An increasingly influential claim is that exit-based empowerment through an unconditional basic income offers the cornerstone of an effective strategy for supporting precarious workers in contemporary labor markets. However, it is plausible to assume that supporting the 'power to say no'-to avoid or leave unattractive jobs-will empower precarious workers only to the extent that it offers the basis of a credible exit threat. In this article, we ar…
The generational welfare contract
The Generational Welfare Contract
This groundbreaking book brings together perspectives from political philosophy and comparative social policy to discuss generational justice. Contributing new insights about the preconditions for designing sustainable, inclusive policies for all of society, the authors expose the possibilities of supporting egalitarian principles in an aging society through balanced generational welfare contracts
Equality of opportunity and the precarization of labour markets
How can we equalize opportunities while respecting people’s freedom? According to a view that I call libertarian resourcism, people’s fair shares of resources should normally take the form of unconditional, individual cash endowments, thereby supporting the freedom to do whatever they might want to do. This view, of which Van Parijs’ philosophy of ‘real freedom for all’ is the clearest and most well-known example, has become a powerful weapon to …
Basic Income
The idea that states should provide a means-tested guaranteed minimum income for citizens who are unable to meet their basic needs is widely shared and has been a central component in the evolution of social citizenship rights in existing welfare states. However, an increasing number of activists and scholars defend the more radical option of establishing a universal basic income, that is, an unconditional income paid to all members of society on…
Basic Income in the Capitalist Economy
A widespread argument in the basic income debate is that the unconditional entitlement to a secure income floor improves workers’ bargaining position vis-a-vis their employers. Basic income effectively grants all (potential) workers an exit option from an employment relation that fails to take her interests into account. It gives them the “power to say no”, as argued by Karl Widerquist. Surprisingly, given its importance, the exit argument itself…
Tracing the sources of legitimacy
Basic Income Reconsidered
Basic income is one the most innovative, powerful and controversial proposals for addressing poverty and growing inequalities. This book examines the arguments for and against basic income from the po
Should surfers be ostracized? Basic income, liberal neutrality, and the work ethos
Neutralists have argued that there is something illiberal about linking access to gift-like resources to work requirements. The central liberal motivation for basic income is to provide greater freedom to choose between different ways of life, including options attaching great importance to non-market activities and disposable time. As argued by Philippe Van Parijs, even those spending their days surfing should be fed. This article examines Van P…
Introduction
Radical liberalism, Rawls and the welfare state
In response to recent policy trends towards linking social rights more tightly to work requirements, this article argues that those sharing Rawlsian commitments have good reasons to prefer a radical‐liberal policy agenda with a universal basic income at its core. Compared to its main rivals in present policy debates, the politics of basic income has greater potential to promote the economic life prospects of the least advantaged in a way that pro…
Tracing the sources of legitimacy
Exit strategy or exit trap? Basic income and the 'power to say no' in the age of precarious employment
An increasingly influential claim is that exit-based empowerment through an unconditional basic income offers the cornerstone of an effective strategy for supporting precarious workers in contemporary labor markets. However, it is plausible to assume that supporting the 'power to say no'-to avoid or leave unattractive jobs-will empower precarious workers only to the extent that it offers the basis of a credible exit threat. In this article, we ar…
Should surfers be ostracized? Basic income, liberal neutrality, and the work ethos
Neutralists have argued that there is something illiberal about linking access to gift-like resources to work requirements. The central liberal motivation for basic income is to provide greater freedom to choose between different ways of life, including options attaching great importance to non-market activities and disposable time. As argued by Philippe Van Parijs, even those spending their days surfing should be fed. This article examines Van P…
Radical liberalism, Rawls and the welfare state
In response to recent policy trends towards linking social rights more tightly to work requirements, this article argues that those sharing Rawlsian commitments have good reasons to prefer a radical‐liberal policy agenda with a universal basic income at its core. Compared to its main rivals in present policy debates, the politics of basic income has greater potential to promote the economic life prospects of the least advantaged in a way that pro…
Equality of opportunity and the precarization of labour markets
How can we equalize opportunities while respecting people’s freedom? According to a view that I call libertarian resourcism, people’s fair shares of resources should normally take the form of unconditional, individual cash endowments, thereby supporting the freedom to do whatever they might want to do. This view, of which Van Parijs’ philosophy of ‘real freedom for all’ is the clearest and most well-known example, has become a powerful weapon to …
Introduction
Radical liberalism, Rawls and the welfare state
In response to recent policy trends towards linking social rights more tightly to work requirements, this article argues that those sharing Rawlsian commitments have good reasons to prefer a radical‐liberal policy agenda with a universal basic income at its core. Compared to its main rivals in present policy debates, the politics of basic income has greater potential to promote the economic life prospects of the least advantaged in a way that pro…
Should surfers be ostracized? Basic income, liberal neutrality, and the work ethos
Neutralists have argued that there is something illiberal about linking access to gift-like resources to work requirements. The central liberal motivation for basic income is to provide greater freedom to choose between different ways of life, including options attaching great importance to non-market activities and disposable time. As argued by Philippe Van Parijs, even those spending their days surfing should be fed. This article examines Van P…
Basic Income Reconsidered
Basic income is one the most innovative, powerful and controversial proposals for addressing poverty and growing inequalities. This book examines the arguments for and against basic income from the po
Tracing the sources of legitimacy
Basic Income
The idea that states should provide a means-tested guaranteed minimum income for citizens who are unable to meet their basic needs is widely shared and has been a central component in the evolution of social citizenship rights in existing welfare states. However, an increasing number of activists and scholars defend the more radical option of establishing a universal basic income, that is, an unconditional income paid to all members of society on…
Basic Income in the Capitalist Economy
A widespread argument in the basic income debate is that the unconditional entitlement to a secure income floor improves workers’ bargaining position vis-a-vis their employers. Basic income effectively grants all (potential) workers an exit option from an employment relation that fails to take her interests into account. It gives them the “power to say no”, as argued by Karl Widerquist. Surprisingly, given its importance, the exit argument itself…
The generational welfare contract
The Generational Welfare Contract
This groundbreaking book brings together perspectives from political philosophy and comparative social policy to discuss generational justice. Contributing new insights about the preconditions for designing sustainable, inclusive policies for all of society, the authors expose the possibilities of supporting egalitarian principles in an aging society through balanced generational welfare contracts
Equality of opportunity and the precarization of labour markets
How can we equalize opportunities while respecting people’s freedom? According to a view that I call libertarian resourcism, people’s fair shares of resources should normally take the form of unconditional, individual cash endowments, thereby supporting the freedom to do whatever they might want to do. This view, of which Van Parijs’ philosophy of ‘real freedom for all’ is the clearest and most well-known example, has become a powerful weapon to …
Exit strategy or exit trap? Basic income and the 'power to say no' in the age of precarious employment
An increasingly influential claim is that exit-based empowerment through an unconditional basic income offers the cornerstone of an effective strategy for supporting precarious workers in contemporary labor markets. However, it is plausible to assume that supporting the 'power to say no'-to avoid or leave unattractive jobs-will empower precarious workers only to the extent that it offers the basis of a credible exit threat. In this article, we ar…
Religious faith and social justice
Is religious faith necessarily a barrier to the achievement of a just society? In This Life, Martin Hägglund answers ‘yes’, defending a form of political atheism based on the claim that a wholehearted commitment to social justice presupposes the recognition of humans as altogether finite, mortal beings. Hägglund’s thorough contribution offers a useful entry point for exploring widely perceived—but seldom articulated—obstacles to more conciliatory…
Universal Basic Income Within a Just Eco‐Social Transition
This article examines the potential of Universal Basic Income (UBI) to support a just eco‐social transition by enabling the emergence of new emancipatory social imaginaries and practices. Against the backdrop of ecological breakdown and deepening precarity under global capitalism, it explores how UBI may function as a democratic tool for socio‐ecological transformation. The argument centers on recent contributions that advocate for a UBI‐centered…
Basic Income—A Transformative Policy for Sustainable Welfare? Part 1
Is basic income (BI) a powerful tool for the green transformation of advanced welfare states? Since the early steps of green ideology formation, basic income‐oriented policies have been widely embraced by environmentally concerned thinkers, and key actors of the green movement. But even though discursive patterns that link basic income to ecological values are prominent and consistent over time, such claims often take the form of general suggesti…
Basic Income—A Transformative Policy for Sustainable Welfare? Part 2
There are compelling arguments for why basic income may be a powerful, transformative eco‐social policy tool in advanced welfare states. However, closer scrutiny reveals that the relationship between BI's ecological and social objectives is also marked by deep tensions. This second part of the article—Part 2 of 2—identifies and explores four paradoxes that seriously complicate the green case for basic income. These paradoxes help explain why the …
Basic income (11 works) · Economics (11 works) · Political science (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Market economy (6 works) · Economic Justice (5 works) · Law and economics (5 works)