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Basic income, liberal neutrality, socialism, and work

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  • Michael Howard

Abstract

Liberal critics often object to basic income (BI) on the grounds that it violates reciprocity and is biased toward those who choose voluntarily to opt out of work and thus violate the principle of liberal neutrality toward conceptions of the good life. In the first part of this paper I argue that liberal neutrality favors BI. Marxist critics of BI are less likely to accept liberal neutrality, but I argue in the second part that the argument for BI in the first part applies with equal force to Marxist objections that BI is unfairly exploitative of workers. Marxists are also less likely to accept current labor market trends, seeing socialism as affording more opportunity for guaranteeing everyone a right to decent work, and suspecting BI of making the unfair inequalities of capitalism a little more palatable while diverting attention from a more equitable socialist alternative. I argue that BI is not incompatible with socialism or Marxism, and should not be opposed to but rather combined with strategies for full employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Howard, 2005. "Basic income, liberal neutrality, socialism, and work," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(4), pages 613-631.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:63:y:2005:i:4:p:613-631
    DOI: 10.1080/00346760500364775
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John E. Roemer, 1994. "A Future for Socialism," Politics & Society, , vol. 22(4), pages 451-478, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dahms Harry F., 2015. "Which Capital, Which Marx? Basic Income between Mainstream Economics, Critical Theory, and the Logic of Capital," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 115-140, June.
    2. Jiaqi Yang & Geetha Mohan & Kensuke Fukushi, 2020. "An Analysis of the Factors Influencing Public Attitudes toward Implementing Basic Income (BI) from an Individual Perspective: A Case Study of Hokuriku Region, Japan," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, July.
    3. Jiaqi Yang & Geetha Mohan & Supriya Pipil & Kensuke Fukushi, 2021. "Review on basic income (BI): its theories and empirical cases," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 23(2), pages 203-239, December.
    4. David Chavanne & Kevin A. McCabe & Maria Pia Paganelli, 2015. "Are Self-Made Men Made Equally? An Experimental Test of Impartial Redistribution and Perceptions of Self-Determination," Nordic Journal of Political Economy, Nordic Journal of Political Economy, vol. 40, pages 1-3.

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