| Resumen: |
Universal Basic Income (UBI) has the potential to be an emancipatory force for good by alleviating poverty and hardship, abolishing ethically questionable means-testing, restoring effective bargaining power to the nonproperty- owningclassesandenablinghumanbeingstodevelopmorefullytheirtruepotentialbyprovidingthem with more real freedom. Or, if designed badly, it could end up as a token handout for a technology-displaced permanent underclass that is shunned from employment opportunities and effective political participation in a neo-feudal system. Further consolidating global inequality by pacifying the (potentially) revolutionary masses, keeping them from pursuing social justice. The paper highlights pitfalls and gives recommendations that are meant to forestall ongoing attempts to water down essential characteristics of UBI and avoid public misapprehension. Furthermore, the potential for social control inherent to welfare politics is highlighted and possible implications for basic income are outlined. Finally, the paper points out a possible goal conflict between civil society proponents of Basic Income and billionaire supporters. UBI has, astonishingly, a long history of receiving support from both traditional political camps– the Left and the Right. Leading to the question what kind of vision would prevail, in times when the lines delineating the political landscape have become blurred? |
