Guy Standing: Why we all deserve a social dividend
Richard J Murphy
15,757 views
Why should a tiny minority receive the rewards from resources, knowledge and institutions that are ultimately part of our common inheritance?
In this podcast, I talk to Professor Guy Standing, best known for developing the idea of the precariat and for his longstanding advocacy of universal basic income.
Guy argues that neoliberalism has created a growing class of people living without the security, rights and occupational identities that previous generations could often expect. But precarity is about more than insecure employment. It means becoming dependent upon employers, landlords, bureaucrats and others simply to get by.
That insecurity is having profound political consequences.
Our discussion moved from the precariat to Guy’s idea of the commons: the natural resources, knowledge, education, institutions and other forms of common wealth from which private interests increasingly extract rents.
Guy argues that those profiting from the commons should compensate the commoners, of whom we are all one. That revenue could be placed in commons capital funds and used to provide everyone with a social dividend, helping underpin a universal basic income.
We discussed as a result why basic income could act as a “social vaccine” against economic uncertainty, why security can increase freedom rather than discourage work, and why reclaiming the commons might offer the basis for a radically different progressive politics.
This is ultimately a discussion about something bigger: who owns our common wealth, who should benefit from it, and what is the economy actually for?
Take a look at the poll below: Post
TRANSCRIPT
A transcript for this video is available at: https://www.taxresearch.org.uk
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ABOUT RICHARD MURPHY
Richard Murphy is Emeritus Professor of Accounting Practice at Sheffield University Management School. He is director of Tax Research LLP and the author of the Funding the Future blog. His best-known book is ‘The Joy of Tax’.
This video was edited by Thomas Murphy.
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20 Comments
The reductionism required to be employed creates much stress/ almost robotic compliance. Remember that old saying, ‘ everyone has to know their place’…. Basically, we returned to a form of the old class system, the one that got slightly dismantled following ww2 and the wonderful emergence of our welfare system.Now in 2026 we see poverty, relative and abject, slum landlords, high bills, private wealth ownership, and massive inequalities.Rather than demonise our youth for not taking jobs that further damage their health, how about Labour( Burnham) creates real jobs, real training, real career ladders, real
Wages, affordable social homes…. Stop selling out Labour.
Yes, a basic income could work as long as the government also provide cheap affordable homes, otherwise that public money will end up in the hands of the passive income landlords, and more inequality would cause more poverty.
It really is about taking it back. They'll fight tooth and nail against it.
Guy Standing: Why we all deserve a social dividend
Richard J Murphy
15,757 views
Why should a tiny minority receive the rewards from resources, knowledge and institutions that are ultimately part of our common inheritance?
In this podcast, I talk to Professor Guy Standing, best known for developing the idea of the precariat and for his longstanding advocacy of universal basic income.
Guy argues that neoliberalism has created a growing class of people living without the security, rights and occupational identities that previous generations could often expect. But precarity is about more than insecure employment. It means becoming dependent upon employers, landlords, bureaucrats and others simply to get by.
That insecurity is having profound political consequences.
Our discussion moved from the precariat to Guy’s idea of the commons: the natural resources, knowledge, education, institutions and other forms of common wealth from which private interests increasingly extract rents.
Guy argues that those profiting from the commons should compensate the commoners, of whom we are all one. That revenue could be placed in commons capital funds and used to provide everyone with a social dividend, helping underpin a universal basic income.
We discussed as a result why basic income could act as a “social vaccine” against economic uncertainty, why security can increase freedom rather than discourage work, and why reclaiming the commons might offer the basis for a radically different progressive politics.
This is ultimately a discussion about something bigger: who owns our common wealth, who should benefit from it, and what is the economy actually for?
Take a look at the poll below: Post
TRANSCRIPT
A transcript for this video is available at: https://www.taxresearch.org.uk
HOW TO SUPPORT US
Please consider donating: https://ko-fi.com/taxresearch
ABOUT RICHARD MURPHY
Richard Murphy is Emeritus Professor of Accounting Practice at Sheffield University Management School. He is director of Tax Research LLP and the author of the Funding the Future blog. His best-known book is ‘The Joy of Tax’.
This video was edited by Thomas Murphy.
RICHARD MURPHY ON BLUESKY:
https://bsky.app/profile/richardjmurp...
OR
ON MY BLOG: http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/
HIT SUBSCRIBE & GET NOTIFICATIONS
Subscribe and get notified of new videos released.
INTRODUCTION: Welcome to my channel - Richard J Murphy -...
Take a look at our playlist page to view older videos: @richardjmurphy
#richardmurphy #richardjmurphy #economy #economics #accountancy #accounting #tax #uktax #ukeconomy #greennewdeal #uk #money #economy #politics #government #tax #labour #health #life