Come together? The unusual combination of precariat materialist and educated post-materialist support for an Australian Universal Basic Income

Roger Patulny*, Ben Spies-Butcher

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    International studies using the European Social Survey (ESS) reveal higher support for Universal Basic Income (UBI) in poorer countries with less generous welfare systems, and among individuals with lower income and education, and leftist political leanings. We present data from the 2019−20 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes mirroring the ESS question. Australia falls in the middle of European opinion, with 51% supporting a UBI, increasing slightly during the onset of Covid-19. We also find higher support among two different groups: (1) those facing greater ‘material’ precarity, including younger, low-income, unemployed, suburban renters, and (2) those who have more post-materialist concerns, including Green-left voters and those favouring redistributive values. Unlike in other countries, higher education predicts more support, while homeownership predicts less. The article concludes with challenges to introducing UBI to Australia, including potentially contradictory strategies for different support bases (material vs post-material), ongoing commitments to means-testing, and negative framing in the media.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)894-913
    Number of pages20
    JournalJournal of Sociology
    Volume59
    Issue number4
    Early online date11 May 2023
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Dec 2023

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Sociology and Political Science

    User-Defined Keywords

    • education
    • materialist
    • post-materialist
    • surveys
    • Universal Basic Income

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