Disagree to Agree: Forming Consensus Around Basic Income in Times of Political Divisiveness

In recent years, political polarization in the USA reached new and alarming levels. As a result, political activists face new challenges in their effort to mobilize around struggles and demands for policy changes. In light of this, we argue that universal basic income can serve as a key policy around which social movements and political activists (both within the progressive movement and across the ideological spectrum) could form an “overlapping consensus.” Using this Rawlsian framework, we focus on the comprehensive doctrines of feminist activists, racial justice activists, liberal egalitarians, Marxists-socialists, and classical liberals (libertarians). We argue that forming an overlapping consensus around UBI would enable activists to have a common political goal without necessarily having to face the challenge of reaching agreement over fundamental values. This, in turn, could enable them to gain more political visibility and thus increase their ability to promote sociopolitical change.