Against exclusion: the radical alternative?

1. Against exclusion: the radical alternative?

2. ‘Social exclusion’: the debate • Public policy in Britain views ‘social exclusion’ in the ‘weak’ sense of the term – i.e. exclusion is caused by personal deficits and dysfunctional places • The solution? Exclusion can be remedied by correcting these deficits and dysfunctions • Byrne (2005) counters this understanding by arguing that the excluded are excluded by the postindustrial capitalist system and its need for a flexible labour market – the ‘strong’ sense of the term • The solution? Need to reconstruct the social order

3. Reconstructing the social order Requires addressing: • the reality of low income and insecurity of employment • the degradation of a political system wedded to the interests of corporate capitalism • the consumerisation of citizenship and restoration of political and social rights (Byrne 2005)

4. Freirean pedagogy • A dialogical approach to community development with disadvantaged people – a dialectical approach (a process of ‘conscientization’) • Presents an opportunity to foster what C. Wright Mills (1959) called a ‘sociological imagination’ - the means to perceive more clearly what is going on in the world and what is happening to us, and to discover alternative routes for self-development • It allows the fatalism and internalised notions of failure often apparent in the statements of the oppressed to be exposed and countered (Mayo 2004)

5. Focus on local citywide issues • Campaigns around school access, health-care, housing, urban regeneration – issues that also engage the middle masses (a universal project) • Built on an alliance of churches, the Green party, labour organisations, community groups, etc. • Links between local level and regional, national and European-wide movements (Byrne 2005)

6. Policy recommendations Other than ‘watering the fields with the blood of the superclass’ (p.182): • The proper taxation of high incomes and accumulated wealth – using the revenues to support sustainable global development; • The restoration of basic organisational rights to workers – allowing them to resist job instability and corporate greed in the interest of well-paid sustainable work (Byrne 2005)

7. Societal preconditions for wellbeing • John Rawls’ (1971) A Theory of Justice – stresses the need for society to support people to gain ‘self-respect’ as a right of citizenship (e.g. by helping them to access the resources needed to achieve one’s ambitions) • Introduced the notion of ‘a veil of ignorance’ – i.e. if we didn’t know what social background we were to be born into, what kind of social order would we choose?

8. A Theory of Human Need • Doyal & Gough (1991) – argued that it was morally inconsistent to expect individuals to meet their reciprocal moral responsibilities as citizens without them having an entitlement of need-satisfaction necessary for them to do this • Determining how needs should be fulfilled requires allowing people meaningful participation in policy decision making – through informed communication between all relevant stakeholders (Doyal & Gough 1991)

9. Rebuilding democracy? • Habermas’ (1981) ‘ideal speech situations’ – i.e. permanent channels of communication where political dialogue and engagement occurs • Freire’s (1996) ‘critical pedagogy’ • Andersen’s (2003) Discursive Analytical Strategies drawing on the ideas of Foucault on the archaeology of knowledge, Koselleck on the history of concepts, Laclau on hegemony and Luhmann on social systems (summarised in Cooper, C. (2008) Community, Conflict & the State)

10. Andersen’s framework • Allows dominant discourses to be scrutinised (to appraise the ‘truths’ they stake claim to and whose interests these serve) • Allows counter discourses to be generated (that expose the contradictions within dominant discourses and convey alternative ‘truths’ in the interest of a broader constituency) • Allows potential sites for engaging in conflict and pursuing counter-hegemonic projects to be identified • Allows the selective and limited assumptions underpinning the activities of social institutions to be exposed and called to account (Cooper 2008)

11. Tackling exclusion locally • A basic citizen’s income (BCI) – a fully integrated tax and benefit system (Burden et al. 2000) • A universal, unconditional, untaxed income paid to everyone (irrespective of personal circumstances) – for Burden et al., calculated at a level to allow a dignified existence and real life choices • Any income above this level taxed at a single (higher) rate • Other social welfare spending (e.g. on housing, education and health care) retained

12. Advantages • Paid to each adult – overcomes problems caused by systems that pay ‘head of household’ • No means test – overcomes poverty trap/non-take up • Reduces administrative costs and complexity of existing dual system of tax and benefits • No work requirement – maximising freedom to spend time productively (e.g. caring; community involvement; education/training; political activity - emphasising ‘society’ over the ‘economy’) • Frees people from inhumane exploitative working conditions • Affordable!

13. Affordability of a BCI • 1997-2002 - Britons with more than £5m in ‘liquid assets’ rose by 13% pa (2002-2004 - rose again by 50%) • Richest 45,000 (0.1%) own a third of all liquid assets • 2000-2004 – pay/bonuses of top executives in Britain more than doubled (ave remuneration being £2.5m - 113 times the average worker) • Loss of revenue through tax avoidance estimated at £85b pa (e.g. via tax-free offshore trusts) - about £2000 pa for every adult (c £40 per week) • In 2002, richest fifth paid 35% of their income in tax, the poorest fifth 37.9% (See Podmore, W., 2008, Review of Rich Britain by Stewart Lansley, 2006, London: Politico’s Publishing at: http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Britain-Rise-New-Super-wealthy/dp/1842751476 )

14. Connecting with the global • Local wellbeing increasingly dependent on decisions made by supranational institutions – particularly the World Bank, WTO, IMF • Need for a global justice coalition movement and manifesto for a new world order to counter neo-liberal domination and its consequences (global poverty, disease, environmental degradation and neo-imperialism) (Cooper 2008)