Independence, Propertylessness, and Basic Income

About this book

Freedom is commonly understood in two different ways: the absence of restriction or interference (scalar freedom) and the absence of slavery or oppression (status freedom). "Independence, Propertylessness, and Basic Income" argues that philosophers have focused too much on scalar freedom and proposes a theory of status freedom as effective control self-ownership-simply, freedom as the power to say no. This exciting new volume argues for and explores the implications of this theory of freedom. It shows that most societies today put the poor in situations in which they lack this crucial freedom, making them vulnerable to poverty, exploitation, and injustice. Widerquist argues that the basic income guarantee is an appropriate institution to help secure status freedom in a modern industrial society.