The plan shatters social solidarity and reifies a neoliberal obsession with the individual

In the age of wonkery and data, the policy discussion above is where the analysis often ends. But in the long term, it is politics that determines whether a program will survive or work as intended. If one takes a tripartite view of society, with a public, private, and civil sector, then a BI could further shrink one of the most important elements of civil society—labor unions. After all, a BI is an individualistic policy: by raising each individual’s own personal bargaining power, it diminishes the need for collective bargaining and social solidarity. When individuals have a stronger exit option, they are less likely to voice collective opposition towards an organization or institution than to simply leave it. This is why unions have expressed concerns that a livable BI will render them superfluous. By further weakening this core civil society institution, the BI removes yet another of Burke’s little platoons that play an active role in intermediating between society and an ever-centralizing bureaucracy and advocate on behalf of the community beyond the ballot box.

This is why highly unionized countries, such as Belgium, fought against proposals for a BI. Belgium operates under the “Ghent system,” in which unions receive the revenue for subsidized unemployment insurance programs and operate voluntarily. An independent BI would weaken unions at the expense of an even stronger federal government. Since at least a portion of the American welfare system is funded by social contributions and not general taxation, a movement towards a generalized BI could be perceived as a massive expansion of welfare.

And all of this presumes that individuals would grow to like the program in the first place. Career and work form a key part of a person’s identity. A society with a livable BI will invariably split the working classes into those who continue to work and those who choose not to. This kind of intra-class conflict would damage social solidarity and create new artificial divisions amongst individuals at a time when national solidarity and a sense of common community have fallen to an all-time low.