by Yannick Vanderborght | May 18, 2011 | Research
WERNER, Götz W., GOEHLER, Adrienne (2010), 1.000 Euro für jeden: Freiheit. Gleichheit. Grundeinkommen, Berlin: Econ, 2010
In his new book Götz W. Werner, founder of the drugstore chain dm, together with Adrienne Goehler, former president of the Hamburg Art Academy and former culture senator of Berlin, describe radical social changes. Referring to American sociologist Jeremy Rifkin’s 1995 book The End of Work, the authors argue that the advance of globalisation, automation and rationalisation has led to a post-industrial society in which production can no longer serve as the basis of societal wealth. Economic growth, they assert, ‘is a dead duck’. Instead, Goehler and Werner urge to focus on creativity as the only remaining, sustainably exploitable resource of the twenty-first century. This is why they argue for a basic income: to tap into this resource of creativity, while avoiding the social unrest that will come with the shortage of constant, paid work, requires everyone to be accorded a level of material security. The authors describe the insecure working conditions of the ‘creative class’, surviving on short-term contracts and project work, as the future for a society that has given up on the goal of well-paid and meaningful work for everyone. According to Goehler and Werner, only a minority of people will earn their money in secure, long-term work, the rest will be left to the fate currently endured by the creative class, the “vanguard of precarious conditions”. Basic Income as a new model of state welfare distribution would replace the bureaucratic behavior-management regime of Hartz IV, based on the simple premise the state would pay everyone a basic income: €1000 for everyone, representing more than just a living wage and enabling people to participate in the cultural life of the society.
For further information:
https://www.ullsteinbuchverlage.de/econ/buch.php?id=16976&page=suche&auswahl=a&pagenum=1&page=buchaz&PHPSESSID=d87e75afe0fab634c220901665bc7520
by Yannick Vanderborght | May 18, 2011 | Research
SCHULTE-BASTA, Dorothee (2010), Ökonomische Nützlichkeit oder leistungsloser Selbstwert? Zur Kompatibilität von Bedingungslosem Grundeinkommen und Katholischer Soziallehre, Freiberg: Zas, 2010.
Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty, wealth, economics, labor, social organization and the role of the state. Its foundation has been laid by Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, and ever since than it is distinctive in its consistent critique of modern social and political ideologies both of the left and of the right. In her now published Master’s thesis, Schulte-Basta, who studied Theology, Philosophy and Communications in Muenster and Berlin, analyzes this critique in terms of Basic Income, as one of the most popular alternative to a marked-based form of organization. Analyzing the compatibility of Basic Income and Catholic Social Teaching, she gives a detailed overview in the history of Catholic Social Teaching in general and especially on the genesis of the key principles such as human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity. In a second step she aligns their essence to the fundamental values of Basic Income. Her study finds that Basic Income does not contradict those key principles but instead helps to implement them by realizing human dignity, implementing solidarity in society and enabling people to help themselves. The book, first German-speaking overview on this topic, comes with a preface by Birgit Zenker, head of KAB, Germany’s Catholic Workers Movement.
For futher information:
https://zas-freiberg.de/index.php/buecher/55-oekonomischenuetzlichkeit
by Yannick Vanderborght | May 18, 2011 | Research
BLASCHKE, Ronald, OTTO, Adeline & SCHEPERS, Norbert (Eds.) (2010), Grundeinkommen : Geschichte – Modelle – Debatten, Berlin: Dietz, 2010.
The book, written by Germanys leading left-wing basic income supporters Ronald Blaschke, Adeline Otto and Katja Kipping, includes a detailed history of the idea of basic income as well as an overview about minimum income and basic income models, which are discussed in Germany right now. Blaschke draws a line from Thomas Paine and Thomas Spence about Charles Fourier and his student, Victor Considérant, to Erich Fromm, proving that fundamental questions related to basic income (means testing, basic income and public infrastructure, basic income and emancipation of female, basic income and attractive labour) have already been discussed by these protagonists. He also discusses some possibilities to determine a fourth criterion of basic income, which is required by the German Network of Basic Income (secure the individual’s livelihood and enable them to participate in society), while Kipping discusses the relation of basic income and democracy and describes the basic income as a fixed rate for democracy. The last part contains articles of various international authors (José Iglesias Fernandéz , Spain/ Ruurik Holm, Finland/ Melina Klaus, Austria/ Sepp Kusstatscher, Italy) dealing with different approaches to a basic income from a left-emancipatory perspective.
The book can be downloaded as a PDF at: https://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/Publ-Texte/Texte_67.pdf
by Yannick Vanderborght | May 18, 2011 | Research
DE BENOIST, Alain (2011), ‘Un revenu pour tous les citoyens?’, Eléments, issue 138, March 2011, pp.28-35.
Alain de Benoist is one of the most prominent figures of the French “new right”. Since a few decades, his controversial writings have dealt with political theory, sociology, literature, international affairs, and many other topics. This article is mainly aimed at giving an overview of the basic income discussion in France and beyond. De Benoist seems supportive of the idea.
See: https://www.revue-elements.com/
by Yannick Vanderborght | May 18, 2011 | Research
MYLONDO, Baptiste (2011), Un revenu pour tous. Précis d’utopie réaliste, Paris: Les Editions Utopia.
A well-documented and well-balanced overview of the basic income discussion, which includes a detailed discussion of the most important objections to the idea. The book is published by “Utopia”, a left-wing movement based in Paris.
See: https://www.mouvementutopia.org/
