This article offers a republican-socialist reading of unconditional basic income, arguing that its political significance and emancipatory potential are not inherent but contingent on the broader sociopolitical project in which it is embedded. Challenging claims of ideological neutrality, we differentiate between right- and left-wing unconditional basic income proposals, focusing on fiscal design, institutional frameworks and implications for labour relations. Drawing on a republican conception of freedom – understood as inseparable from the material conditions that sustain it – we conceptualise unconditional basic income as an intervention against market dependency and economic coercion. When implemented within a framework of economic democracy, unconditional basic income can serve not merely as income support but as a lever for redistributing power, enhancing autonomy and challenging systemic inequalities. Rather than a technocratic fix, it may constitute a cornerstone for democratising economic life – provided it is shielded from neoliberal co-optation. Conversely, when financed and framed as a substitute for public guarantees, unconditional basic income risks entrenching market logics and private domination.
Bollain et al. (Thu,) studied this question.