Guy Standing to speak at Syre’s Basic Income Beer

It has been 15 years since Guy Standing gained international recognition with the book The Precariat, in which he described how globalization, technological development, and insecure jobs are creating a new global social class: the precariat.

On February 20, he will join Syre’s Basic Income Beer online to share his views on how the precariat has evolved over the past 15 years. Has the situation worsened or improved? Does he still believe that basic income is the solution? Everyone attending will have the chance to ask him questions directly after the lecture.

How does it feel to take part in Syre’s “Basic Income Beer” event?

— I am not sure about the connection with ‘beer’, but I always love coming back to Sweden and to interacting with Swedish activists and thinkers. Many years ago I worked with Rudolf Meidner, a great economist and one of the founders of the Swedish Model. In the 1970s and 1980s, he realised that the old social democrat system that had made Sweden world famous was dying, and I am pleased to say he and I became friends in the 1980s and 1990s, and he came round to thinking some form of basic income would be essential to arrest the growth of inequality. Today, Sweden’s economy is fragile and Sweden needs an ecologically driven revival. 

You have researched and written about basic income for many years. Why do you consider this issue to be so important?

— I think the justification for moving towards having a system of basic income for every legal resident is fundamentally a matter of common justice. It would also help deal with the worst aspect of today’s globalised economy, the growth of economic insecurity, largely associated with the growth of the precariat. I am glad to say my books on the precariat have been translated into Swedish.

What can attendees expect from your lecture and the subsequent Q&A session?

— I hope participants will understand better the ethical justification for basic income and its effectiveness in dealing with insecurity as well as poverty and inequality. And they will appreciate more that it is both affordable and a political imperative in combating neo-fascist populism.

In addition to authoring several books, Guy Standing has, among other things, conducted research on basic income in India, co-founded the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), and worked at the UN’s labour agency, the ILO.

Guy Standing is also currently in the spotlight with his new book Human Capital – The Tragedy of the Education Commons. During the evening, he will also talk about the link between basic income and education – a perspective that is rarely discussed. The lecture will be held in English.