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.
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