New Horizons for Human Solace: Universal Basic Income Making a Difference in People’s Well-Being

Abstract

ABSTRACT Considering contemporary crises and challenges, I hereby discuss the Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a citizenship prerogative aimed at promoting new ways of social organization and living. The analysis primarily focuses on understanding how UBI could impact people’s quality of life, subjectivities and perceptions. The empirical material used in the analysis includes some statistical data, but mainly ethnographic testimonies from participants in UBI-related programmes or experiments. Access to this data was made possible through secondary research of various worldwide cases related to this policy between 1970 and 2022, aiming to establish a solid foundation for characterizing the effects of the programmes and the experiences of recipients. In this research process, I assumed that documentary secondary sources also provide fertile ground for anthropological approaches and analyses. From this empirical ground it became possible to understand the structural changes brought about by UBI in people’s living conditions, subjectively experienced through emotional relief, safety, trust, optimism and joy, constituting embodied subjectivities of well-being.