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.
