Technological development and universal basic income: from utopia to reality
Abstract
This paper analyzes the idea of universal basic income, which implies a periodic monetary payment received by all members of the society, with no prerequisites. Most former viewpoints contained numerous utopian elements. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to point to the reality of this idea and answer the question whether it is yet another in a series of utopias, or there are actual foundations for its realization today. Modern technological development opens the space for increasing production by excluding human labour from it and by increasing profits of production organizers, whereas an increasing number of workers face temporary periods of unemployment during their working lives. All of the above make the idea of universal mandatory income up-to-date. The text explains the attitude that technological development, through mechanisms of profit redistribution, opens the space for this idea to overgrow its utopian character and become reality. The prerequisite is that the surplus of wealth that goes to production organizers should be redirected to the rest of the population.
References
Afscharian, D., Muliavka, V., Ostrowski, M. S. & Siegel, L. (2022). Towards a Progressive European Basic Income? Social Europe. Available at https://socialeurope.eu/towards-a-progressive-european-basic-income
Banerjee, A., Niehaus, P., Suri, T. (2019). Universal Basic Income in the Developing World. Working paper Series No. WPS-076. Center for Effective Action. University of California.
Beck, U. (2000). The Brave New World of Work. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Beker, I. (2019), University and Industry 4.0. Lean transformation and digitalization of Serbian industry (10–19). Beograd: Fakultet organizacionih nauka. [In Serbian]
BIEN (2016). A short history of the Basic Income idea. https://basicincome.org/history/
BIEN (2016). Definition of Basic Income since the GA 1996. The Basic Income Earth Network. https://basicincome.org/about-basic-income/
Bloch, E (1966). The Tübingen Introduction in Philosophy. Beograd: Nolit. [In Serbian]
Bregman, R. (2016). Utopia for realists: the Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders and 15-hour Workweek. The Correspondent.
Bourdieu, P. (1999). Counterfire: Against the Tyranny of the Market. Beograd: Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva [In Serbian]
Calnitsky, D. (2017). “Debating Basic Income”. Catalyst, 1 (3), 62–91. Available at https://catalyst-journal.com/2017/12/debating-basic-income
Cole, G. D. H. (1935). Principles of Economic Planning. London: Macmillan. Available at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.50252/page/n262/mode/1up?q=dividend
Dayton, T. (1996). Reclaiming Utopia: The Legacy of Ernst Bloch. Against the Current, No. 62, May/June 1996. Available at https://againstthecurrent.org/atc062/p2415/
Declaration of Human and Civil Rights of 26 August 1789. Available at https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b52410.html
Đilas, M. (1990). The New Class. Beograd: Narodna knjiga. [In Serbian]
Đurić, M. (1972). The Ambiguity of Utopia. Praxis. 1–2. Available at https://www.marxists.org/srpshrva/subject/praxis/1972/02.htm. [In Serbian]
Galbraith, J. K. (2015). The New Industrial State. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400873180pdf
Giddens, A. (1996). The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Goldsmith, S. (2010). The Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend: A Case Study in Implementation of a Basic Income Guarantee. Anchorage: Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska.
Hamilton, L., Yorgun, M. & Wright, A. (2021). People Nowadays Will Take Everything They Can Get: American Perceptions of Basic Income Usage. Journal of Policy Practice and Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42972-021-00035-0
Harvey, D. (2007.) A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
Kagermann, H., Lukas, W. D., & Wahlster, W. (2011). Industrie 4.0: Mit dem Internetder Dinge auf dem Wegzur 4. industriellen Revolution. VDI Nachrichten, (13), 3–4. Available at http://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/Technik-Gesellschaft/Industrie-40-Mit-InternetDinge-Weg-4-industriellen-Revolution
Keynes, J. M. (1961). Essays in Persuasion. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company.
Mannheim, K. (1979). Ideology and Utopia. An Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge. London and Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul. [In Serbian]
Marx, K. (1987). The Capital. Beograd: Prosveta. [In Serbian]
Meyer, H. (27 March 2017). No Need for Basic Income: Five Policies to Deal with the Threat of Technological Unemployment, Social Europe. Available at https://www.socialeurope.eu/2017/03/no-need-basic-income-five-policiesdeal-threat-technological-unemployment
Miladinović, S. (2009). The Elites of Disintegration. Beograd: Službeni glasnik. [In Serbian]
Miladinović, S. (2018). Precarization of Work and Precariat as the Consequences of Contemporary Development, Technology Culture and Development 25, 62–78. Beograd: Udruženje Tehnologija i društvo, Institut Mihajlo Pupin, Centar za istraživanje razvoja nauke i tehnologije. [In Serbian]
Miladinović S. (2020). Social Consequences of the Application of the Industry Concept 4.0. Technology Culture and Development 26, 51–67. Beograd: Udruženje Tehnologija i društvo, Institut Mihajlo Pupin, Centar za istraživanje razvoja nauke i tehnologije. In Serbian]
Milner, D. (1920). Higher production by a bonus on national output [microform]; a proposal for a minimum income for all varying with national productivity, 21–22. London: Allen. Available at https://archive.org/details/higherproduction00miln
More, T. (2002). Utopia. Beograd. [In Serbian]
OXFAM (2019). Fighting Inequality to Beat Poverty. Annual Report 2018–2019.
Paine, T. (1955). Agrarian Justice. In Collected Writings, 396–413. The Library of America. Available at https://books.google.rs/books?id=2sS8qQBJBaoC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA396&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Pateman, C. (2003), Freedom and Democratization: Why Basic Income is to be Preferred to Basic Capital. In: K. Dowding, J. de Wispelaere and S. White (eds.), The Ethics of Stakeholding (130–148). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Piketty, T. (2015). Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Novi Sad: Akademska knjiga. [In Serbian]
Raventós, D. (2007). Basic Income. The Material Conditions of Freedom. Pluto Press.
Ricardo, D. (2001). On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. London: Batoche Books, Kitchener.
Russell, B. (1919). Proposed Roads to Freedom. New York, Henry Holt and Company. Available at https://onemorelibrary.com/index.php/en/books/social-sciences/book/political-science-183/proposed-roads-to-freedom-248
Seymour, R. (2012). “We Are All Precarious – On the Concept of the ’Precariat’ and its Misuses”. Available at http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/we_are_all_precarious_on_the_concept_of_the_precariat_and_its_misuses
Simović, S. (1990). The End of Utopia as the End of Truth. Revija za sociologiju. Vol. XXI, No 4, 627–636. [In Croatian]
Spence, T. (2016). The Meridian Sun of Liberty; or the Whole Rights of Man Displayed and most Accurately Defined, A Lecture read at the Philosophical Society in Newcastle, on Nov. 8th, 1775. Available at https://www.marxists.org/history/england/britdem/people/spence/meridian/meridian.htm#cover
Standing, G. (2011). The Precariat – the New Dangerous Class. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Standing. G. (2014). A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Stojanović, S. (1967). The Statist Myth of Socialism, Praxis 1–2/1967. [In Serbian]
Stojanović, S. (1968). Once Again about the Statist Myth of Socialism, Socijalizam 1/1968. [In Serbian]
Torry, M. (2018). Why We Need a Citizen’s Basic Income: the Desirability, Feasibility and Implementation of an Unconditional Income. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Torry, M. (2021). Basic Income: a History. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Vives, J. L. (1999). On Assistance to the Poor. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 70. Available at https://publiconsulting.com/spanishclassicbooks/juan-luis-vives-onassistance-to-the-poor
Wilde, O. (1891). The Soul of Man under Socialism. Available at https://writersinspire.org/content/soul-man-under-socialism