This is a hand curated selection of definitions from across academia on the concept of universal basic income.
an unconditional regular payment to all citizens
(Sage, 2019: 17-18)
UBI is a soci(et)al wage for the soci(et)al working class.
(Fuchs, 2019: 262)
UBI is a demand that can advance the networking of the various factions of the social working class.
(Fuchs, 2019: 262)
is an income that:
(Fuchs, 2019: 263)
- Is paid to all members of a society.
- Is unconditional (no needs tested, not based on previous employment, no willingness to work, no prohibition of work).
- Is paid on an individual level.
- Secures existence (it is not set below the subsistence level).
- Includes health insurance.
- Has the effect of the top-down redistribution of wealth from corporations and the rich to the working class and the poor.
is a concept intended to tackle the problem of redistributing wealth within a welfare state setting, providing citizens (or residents) of a nation a regular basic monetary transfer without preconditions on an equal basis
(Obinger, 2014: 141)
an instrument to empower citizens to freely decide whether and how to spend their time on wage labor, and thus as a policy to promote more self-determined lifestyles.
(Obinger, 2014: 143)
a term used to describe a number of different proposals where the state would provide income for all citizens, without any conditions attached, and regardless of their other resources.
(Hobson & Kulakiewicz, 2022: 2)
a scheme where universal, unconditional payments provide people with just enough money to live on.
(Hobson & Kulakiewicz, 2022: 2)
is an ethical, socially just policy instrument that contributes to producing longer term change that enhances the socio-economic and political security for all citizens
(Raventós, 2007)
unconditional income granted to each citizen, irrespective of work criteria or a means test.
(Ruckert et al., 2018: 3)
an unconditional payment granted to every individual as a right of citizenship
(Rodriguez-Montemayor, 2018)
is distinct from conditional cash transfers in aspiring to be unconditional if not truly universal, revolutionary rather than reformist
(Thompson, 2022: 354)
is not simply a neutral policy proposal but a dynamic discourse with performative power to shape the future of work and capitalism
(Thompson, 2022: 368)
a cash transfer given to all members of a community on a recurrent basis regardless of income level and with no strings attached
(Hasdell, 2020: 3)
the idea that every person or citizen, however defined, without means test or work requirement, viz. irrespective of employment status or categorization, earnings, age, gender or other designations, should receive a guaranteed unconditional minimum income from the state, as a monetary payment (i.e., weekly, monthly) with no or limited provisos as to how the amount, or the time of its payees, is spent.
(Sisler, 2014: 152-153)
an income paid by a political community to all its members on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement
(Vab Parijs, 2004)
is a long-standing umbrella concept that is attracting ever more attention in light of the prognostications of a dire future wherein economic inequality is greatly exacerbated by various socioeconomic and technological factors.
(Chohan, 2017)
Other Sources
For a discussion on definitions of universal basic income see Torry (2019).
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References
Chohan, U. (2017). Universal Basic Income: A Review. Disability Income & Work Injury Compensation eJournal. https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.3013634.
Fuchs, C. (2019). Marxism: Karl Marx’s fifteen key concepts for cultural and communication studies. New York: Routledge.
Hasdell, R. (2020). What we know about universal basic income. A cross-synthesis. Standfor Basic Income Lab.
Hobson, F. and Kulakiewicz, A. (2022). Potential merits of a universal basic income. [online] Parliamnet UK. London: House of Commons Library. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2022-0104/ [Accessed 12 Nov. 2023].
Obinger, J. (2014). Beyond the paradigm of labor: Everyday activism and unconditional basic income in urban Japan. In Basic Income in Japan: Prospects for a Radical Idea in a Transforming Welfare State (pp. 141-155). New York: Palgrave Macmillan US.
Raventós, D. (2007). Basic Income: The Material Conditions of Freedom. Pluto Press (UK).
Rodriguez-Montemayor, E. (2018). Could a universal basic income become the basis for working better in a fast-changing world. INSEAD, France.
Ruckert, A., Huynh, C., & Labonté, R. (2018). Reducing health inequities: is universal basic income the way forward?. Journal of Public Health, 40(1), 3-7.
Sage, D. (2019). Unemployment, wellbeing and the power of the work ethic: Implications for social policy. Critical Social Policy, 39(2), 205-228.
Sisler, A. (2014). Basic Income, Eco-logical Ethics, and Interdependent Well-Being. Ethics In ProgresS, 5(2), pp.151–169. doi: https://doi.org/10.14746/eip.2014.2.11
Thompson, M. (2022). Money for everything? Universal basic income in a crisis. Economy and Society, 51(3), 353-374.
Torry, M. (2019). The Definition and Characteristics of Basic Income. The Palgrave International Handbook of Basic Income. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23614-4_2.
Van Parijs, P. (2004). Basic Income: A Simple and Powerful Idea for the Twenty-First Century. Politics & Society, [online] 32(1), pp.7–39. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329203261095.
