Basic Income and the Eight Giants: The New Social Contract

This article provides an in-depth analysis of Guy Standing's proposal to introduce an unconditional basic income (UBI) as the foundation of a new social contract. The author introduces the concept of "eight giants"—contemporary systemic threats such as precariat, growing inequality, and the ecological crisis—that require a radical paradigm shift in wealth distribution. The text critically assesses current systems, including the British Universal Credit, pointing out their bureaucratic oppression and poverty traps. Instead, it proposes decommodifying work and recognizing basic income as a common heritage, financed, among other things, by rents from natural resources (ecodividends). The analysis also includes experiences from pilot projects in Finland and Germany, presenting UBI not as a welfare benefit but as a tool for increasing citizens' freedom and mental resilience in an age of automation and rentier capitalism.