From a critical perspective you would reject a Basic Income because it entrenches neoliberalism

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified interest in alternatives to neoliberalism. One proposal that has been increasingly discussed by both academics and activists is the implementation of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). This would typically see all citizens awarded a regular cash payment, without conditionality attached. While UBI thus deserves considerable attention from sociologists, as yet critical theorists have not offered an extended engagement with the proposal. In this paper, I provide exactly such a critical theoretical perspective on UBI, subjecting the approach to an extended critique. When viewed through the perspective of critical theory, UBI emerges as a more problematic approach to social change, failing to offer what its most enthusiastic progressive proponents promise: ‘a capitalist road to communism’. Rather, in this article, I argue that, when viewed through the lens of critical theory, UBI appears likely to further entrench, rather than disturb, the neoliberal social formation. Introduction Since the mid-1980s Universal Basic Income (UBI) has rapidly ‘risen up the policy agenda’ (Martinelli, 2017: i).1 The COVID-19 pandemic has increased interest in UBI further still, both among sociologists and within the wider activist community (see Nwogbo, 2022a). It is clear to theorists studying alternative societies that the idea of UBI is ‘not going away’ any time soon and merits serious consideration (Martell, 2023; Murphy, 2019: 15). For Phillipe Van Parijs (1991, 1992), UBI’s attraction comes from the fact that it is ultimately a ‘disarmingly simple idea’. At its most basic, proponents of UBI call for a regular cash payment to be made to all people above a certain age, without government oversight or conditionality (Lowrey, 2018: 4). The money can be spent however the recipients wish and they do not need to justify or account for their expenditures. Such an approach is increasingly gaining support across the political left (Loft et al., 2020: 2), with prominent advocates including Louise Haagh (2019), Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams (2015) and Guy Standing (2005, 2017).2 While UBI clearly deserves considerable attention from sociologists, critical theory is yet to offer an extended engagement with the idea. In this paper, I provide exactly such a perspective, presenting a left-wing critique of UBI drawing on central insights from critical theory. When viewed through the perspective of critical theory, I argue that UBI emerges as a problematic approach to social change and submit that it may actually serve to facilitate neoliberalism and entrench the central pathologies of the free market.3 For its contemporary proponents, such as Fraser and Jaeggi (2019) and Thompson (2022), critical theory can offer much needed tools for social research through its fusion of Marxian, Weberian and psychoanalytic insights. The exploration of such themes enables important, and often overlooked concerns, to be explored, such as changing forms of consciousness, rationality, and desire. Yet, to its detractors, the critical theory tradition can be associated with varying shades of Marxist dogma, obscurantism and Eurocentrism (see Allen, 2016; Bhambra, 2021). Conversely, in this paper, I hope to demonstrate the continued relevance of critical theory for accessible, reflexive scholarship, which engages with ideas that are of pressing concern within and beyond the academy.