Overview
As the rich get richer, taking more of our wealth, our democratic freedoms are also in danger. The elite are gaining large profits without duly contributing to society, hollowing out our public services and institutions and preventing the vast majority of us from living our lives fully and developing productive and reproductive projects of our own. In Unconditional Freedom, David Casassas argues that for us to live freely, we need unconditional resources such as Universal Basic Income. In a sharp and lucid analysis of the power of 'pre-distributing' resources, he shows that UBI would not only liberate us from the nightmare of precarious employment, but that it would also increase our bargaining power as a class, opening doors to democratising our lives. While it would be naive to say that UBI alone would put an end to capitalist social relations, Casassas convincingly argues that it would help pave the way for social emancipation.
Full Product Details
Author: David Casassas ,
Julie Wark
Publisher: Pluto Press
Imprint: Pluto Press
ISBN: 9780745348636
ISBN 10: 0745348637
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 20 January 2024
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Language: English
Reviews
"'A very important and timely book. This excellent study ... brings together in a single work the contributions David Casassas has made over many years to the analysis of basic income. This is a must-read for anyone who wants a broader perspective on basic income as a transformative measure.' -- Louise Haagh, author of 'The Case for Basic Income' 'A useful, militant book, useful because it clearly, rigorously, and skilfully sets out the basic principles of the universal basic income, and militant because it doesn’t hide its position, which I’d describe as radical. In this, [Casassas] follows the advice of our mutual friend and teachermentor, Antoni Domènech, for whom, ""If you don’t know how to be sufficiently radical, you’ll always end up in the folly of hyperrealism.""' -- Daniel Raventós, author of 'Basic Income: The Material Conditions of Freedom' 'An ethical defence of basic income constructed on the value of republican freedom, an important proposal in an era of rentier capitalism that allows plutocrats to pocket more and more wealth. We need a new system of distribution with basic income acting as an anchor.' -- Guy Standing, author of 'The Corruption of Capitalism'"
Author Information
David Casassas is Associate Professor at the University of Barcelona, where he teaches social and political theory. He was the Secretary of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) and he is now a member of its International Advisory Board. He has widely published on republicanism, socialism and basic income and is the author of the highly praised Spanish book The City in Flames: The validity of Adam Smith’s commercial republicanism. Julie Wark is a translator and human rights activist. She is correspondent for Europe for CounterPunch and author of The Human Rights Manifesto and Against Charity (with Daniel Raventós).
