The Socio-Representational Construction of Universal Basic Income in the French Context: Effects of Politico-Ideological Anchors
Palabras clave:
Universal Basic Income, Social Representations, Political Orientation, Ideology, Social OrderResumen
As a new, complex and controversial object, we studied Universal Basic Income (UBI) through the Theory of Social Representations (TSR). Our study aimed to explore the representational field spontaneously associated with the UBI in a French sample and how it was structured according to their political and ideological anchors. Our results showed that the UBI was represented through some analogies with the existing social minima, some beliefs and values suggesting societal progress but also suggesting some fear of a weakening of the capitalist economic order. Moreover, splitting our sample based on the political orientation of participants, they seemed to represent UBI based on principles specific to each of their ideological traditions. The potentially polemical character of the socio-representational construction of the UBI and its potential implications in terms of maintaining or challenging the social order are therefore discussed.