Critical Theory and Universal Basic Income

Bibliographic Data

ID2371013
AuthorsN Harris (0000-0002-7336-1902, Oxford Brookes University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume49
Issue7-8
Pages1141-1156
Publication date2023-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0896-9205 • E-ISSN: 1569-1632
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/08969205231151562
OpenAlexW4323924631
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited33

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified interest in alternatives to neoliberalism. One proposal that has been increasingly discussed by both academics and activists is the implementation of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). This would typically see all citizens awarded a regular cash payment, without conditionality attached. While UBI thus deserves considerable attention from sociologists, as yet critical theorists have not offered an extended engagement with the proposal. In this paper, I provide exactly such a critical theoretical perspective on UBI, subjecting the approach to an extended critique. When viewed through the perspective of critical theory, UBI emerges as a more problematic approach to social change, failing to offer what its most enthusiastic progressive proponents promise: 'a capitalist road to communism'. Rather, in this article, I argue that, when viewed through the lens of critical theory, UBI appears likely to further entrench, rather than disturb, the neoliberal social formation

Basic income · Communism · Conditionality · Critical theory · Economics · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Critical Theory and Political Philosophy · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law

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