Proposals for a universal basic income (UBI) are now being made across political parties and across geographic locations. This presentation takes a look at current proposals in order to develop a rubric for analysis and understanding. As debates rage over the possible effects of UBI, particularly in relation to automation anxieties, it will become essential for scholars to have a working knowledge of this terrain, particularly if scholars are interested in working at the level of policy.

Karen Gregory is  Lecturer in Digital Sociology at the University of Edinburgh and an ethnographer with an interest in the relationship between work, digital technologies, and emerging forms of labour. She is the co-editor of Digital Sociologies (Policy Press, 2016) and the programme director of the MSc in “Digital Society.” She is currently at work on a research project that examines the possibilities for solidarity in a digital economy, as well as issues of data and labour in higher education.