Socialist arguments for Basic Income

Casassas, Raventós and Szlinder set out from the position that the socialist tradition is heir to the main cornerstones of the old republican tradition, and they employ possible republican arguments for Basic Income to understand the socialist potential of Basic Income. They first analyse the republican social ontology - that is, the republican description of social life - and the resulting republican conceptualisation of freedom and democracy; and then they show why and how such a perspective helped and helps to shape socialist arguments and strategies for an emancipatory Basic Income for present-day societies. In the last section of the chapter they explore historical and institutional considerations about the political need and feasibility of emancipatory Basic Income schemes under contemporary circumstances.