Universal basic income and the purpose of work and labour

This article discusses the proposition that a Universal Basic Income provides an exit option from exploitative working conditions. This proposition has been defended from two perspectives. The liberal perspective looks at the proposition from the perspective of the individual human being and the liberal democratic constitution. The Marxian perspective looks at the collective level and the (a)symmetry of power relations between labour and capital. A third perspective can be contrasted with the two, namely the perspective on vita activa and the human condition opened up by Hannah Arendt. Building on these, the article outlines an argument of the transformative potential of UBI as an exit option. UBI can change our egoistic concepts of work so that we understand work as an arena of freedom where we voluntarily put our skills into use for the service of others. Existing social security policies can be seen as a step in the development towards this understanding.