Activists, intellectuals, and social movements: Universal Basic Income as a radical innovation

Universal Basic Income (UBI) has gathered momentum in recent years and gained visibility in public debates as politicians and public figures from a wide variety of backgrounds and ideologies have endorsed it, while pilot tests of UBI have been launched in different countries. The chapter examines the role played by intellectuals in these processes, arguing that they have been instrumental in this surge of popularity and the accessibility of elites and institutions, which is apparent in the last decade. The chapter explains on which grounds Universal Basic Income can be considered a progressive policy; shows how this concept entered the mainstream debate; and describes the role of progressive intellectuals in these processes, distinguishing different ways in which scholars in higher education institutions, experts in the third sector and charities, and public officials, engaged in a form of epistemic activism to sustain Universal Basic Income.