IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bistud/v12y2017i1p9n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Real Freedom for All Revisited – Normative Justifications of Basic Income

Author

Listed:
  • Henderson Troy

    (Department of Political Economy, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)

Abstract

This paper contributes to debates regarding the normative justification of basic income (BI) via a critical reevaluation of Philippe Van Parijs’ ‘real-libertarian’ theory. Van Parijs’ work constitutes the most ambitious attempt within the literature to ground a justification of BI within a systematic normative framework. In this paper I argue that key elements of his framework should form part of any progressive justification of BI. Specifically, his linking of the principle of ‘real freedom for all’ with the policy mechanism of the ‘highest sustainable basic income.’ I take issue with Van Parijs’ treatment of compensation for unequal internal endowments based on the criterion of ‘undominated diversity’ and I reject the ‘external resources’ approach to justifying the funding of a substantial BI, including Van Parijs’ ‘jobs as assets’ argument. I introduce the concept of ‘total social productivity’ as a means of understanding the production and reproduction of society in a manner that anchors the justification of BI in a commitment to a ‘deep form of social reciprocity.’ Finally, I suggest that BI be framed as a ‘pragmatic-utopian reform.’

Suggested Citation

  • Henderson Troy, 2017. "Real Freedom for All Revisited – Normative Justifications of Basic Income," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bistud:v:12:y:2017:i:1:p:9:n:3
    DOI: 10.1515/bis-2016-0022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2016-0022
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bis-2016-0022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Cunliffe & Guido Erreygers (ed.), 2004. "The Origins of Universal Grants," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-52282-4, October.
    2. Amartya Sen, 2005. "Human Rights and Capabilities," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 151-166.
    3. Parijs, Philippe Van, 1997. "Real Freedom for All: What (if Anything) Can Justify Capitalism?," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198293576.
    4. Wright Erik Olin, 2006. "Basic Income as a Socialist Project," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-11, June.
    5. van der Veen Robert J. & Van Parijs Philippe, 2006. "A Capitalist Road to Communism," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-23, June.
    6. Philippe VAN PARIJS, 1990. "Equal Endowments as Undominated Diversity," Discussion Papers (REL - Recherches Economiques de Louvain) 1990034, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sophia Seung-Yoon Lee & Ji-eun Lee & Kyo-seong Kim, 2020. "Evaluating Basic Income, Basic Service, and Basic Voucher for Social and Ecological Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-25, October.
    2. Deakin, S. & Koukiadaki, A., 2011. "Capability Theory, Employee Voice and Corporate Restructuring: Evidence from UK Case Studies," Working Papers wp429, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    3. Ville-Veikko Pulkka, 2017. "A free lunch with robots – can a basic income stabilise the digital economy?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(3), pages 295-311, August.
    4. Antoinette Baujard & Muriel Gilardone, 2017. "Sen is not a capability theorist," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Canton, César G., 2012. "Empowering People in the Business Frontline: The Ruggie’s Framework and the Capability Approach," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 23(2), pages 191-216.
    6. Ulriksen, Marianne S. & Plagerson, Sophie, 2014. "Social Protection: Rethinking Rights and Duties," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 755-765.
    7. Martin van Hees, 2013. "Rights, goals, and capabilities," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 12(3), pages 247-259, August.
    8. Leßmann, Ortrud, 2011. "Empirische Studien zum Capability Ansatz auf der Grundlage von Befragungen: Ein Überblick," UFZ Discussion Papers 4/2011, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    9. Marta Santagata & Enrico Ivaldi & Riccardo Soliani, 2019. "Development and Governance in the Ex-Soviet Union: An Empirical Inquiry," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 157-190, January.
    10. Fernando Bucheli, 2021. "Before Entering Adulthood: Developing an Index of Capabilities for Young Adults in Bogota," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 965-1002, June.
    11. Khan, Haider, 2024. "Women’s Socially Embedded Capabilities and Development: A Theory-based Empirical Investigation," MPRA Paper 119908, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. César González-Cantón & Sonia Boulos & Pablo Sánchez-Garrido, 2019. "Exploring the Link Between Human Rights, the Capability Approach and Corporate Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(4), pages 865-879, December.
    13. Feng Lan & Weichao Xu & Weizeng Sun & Xiaonan Zhao, 2024. "From poverty to prosperity: assessing of sustainable poverty reduction effect of “welfare-to-work” in Chinese counties," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, December.
    14. Julienne Brabet & Corinne Vercher- Chaptal & Lucy Taska, 2020. "From oligopolistic digital platforms to Open/Cooperative Ones?," Post-Print hal-03201454, HAL.
    15. Casassas David, 2016. "Economic Sovereignty as the Democratization of Work: The Role of Basic Income," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, June.
    16. Sabina Alkire, Jose Manuel Roche, 2011. "Beyond Headcount: Measures that Reflect the Breadth and Components of Child Poverty," OPHI Working Papers 45, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    17. Rashedur Chowdhury, 2021. "From Black Pain to Rhodes Must Fall: A Rejectionist Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(2), pages 287-311, May.
    18. Casassas David, 2008. "Basic Income and the Republican Ideal: Rethinking Material Independence in Contemporary Societies," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-7, January.
    19. Nicolai Suppa, 2021. "Walls of glass. Measuring deprivation in social participation," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(2), pages 385-411, June.
    20. Tim Goedemé & Wim Van Lancker, 2009. "A Guaranteed Minimum Income for EuropeÂ’’s Elderly. Options and Pitfalls in the Design of a Harmonised Basic Pension Scheme in the European Union," Working Papers 0901, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:bistud:v:12:y:2017:i:1:p:9:n:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.