Japan-Germany joint research on the ideological historical significance of <Basic Income> to <Sustainable Society>

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00103
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01040:History of thought-related
• Research Institution: Nagoya City University
• Principal Investigator: Bessho Yoshimi 名古屋市立大学, 大学院人間文化研究科, 名誉教授 (10219149)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: ベーシック・インカム / 持続可能な社会 / 労働と所得 / 自然の共同所有 / 労働と所得

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Basic Income (BI) is a Vision that demands a structural transformation of society. The BI Vision, which states that 'basic income should be unconditionally provided to all citizens,' proposes a society, where a certain amount of income is given to each member unconditionally as dividends from the common ownership of nature. In this society citizens, supported by BI as a human right, maintain social solidarity as free democratic agents. They secure a social space outside the economic realm of commodity (private property) exchange, preserving a harmonious world of environment, society, and nature, where citizens sustain their existence by conserving nature. This study demonstrated this by reexamining the modern history of thought, esp. 19th-century land reform advocates and 20th-century feminist debates on domestic labor.

Free Research Field

社会哲学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本をはじめ現代世界は、環境問題、社会的格差の拡大、少子高齢化、民主主義の脆弱化、排外主義・不寛容の復活、持続可能な社会の探求などといった根本的な問題や課題に直面している。これらの課題に対しては、経済成長を万能薬とするのではなく、経済システム外部の社会的連帯や自然環境保全といった人間活動領域を再構築する必要がある。このような活動領域を、経済性から独立した領域として確保するための手段であるとともに推進理念としてベーシック・インカムの意義は大きい。