Universal Basic Income and the Legacy of Enclosure: A Historical Reframing of Economic Justice

Author: Victor Cen

Field of Study: Arts and Humanities

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Will Glovinsky

Easel: 62

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: Today, Universal Basic Income (UBI) is often framed as an individualizing, consumerist solution to poverty and inequality, such that critics from the left have assailed the idea as inherently neoliberal. However, the roots of basic income trace back to historical critiques of capitalism and the loss of common resources. This research examines UBI through the lens of the enclosure movement in Britain, which privatized common lands and displaced rural communities, accelerating the transition to capitalism. By analyzing historical sources such as John Clare’s poetry and early UBI proposals from Thomas Paine and Thomas Spence, this study explores how the loss of the commons generated calls for economic compensation. These calls are echoed today in works such as Guy Standing’s Plunder of the Commons. By reframing UBI as a form of historical compensation rather than just a welfare policy, this project seeks to deepen our understanding of economic justice and the structural inequalities embedded in capitalism.