Abstract

According to Moulier Boutang, there are four possible solutions to the crisis of the Welfare State: first, a tax credit or a universal allocation at a minimum level, accompanied by a dismantling of the systems protecting salaried work. At the other extreme lies the reinforcement of the latter systems of protection with a guaranteed minimum wage and further restrictions placed upon redundancy rights. The logic of these latter measures is tied to a return to full employment, where those in a precarious position are offered the utopia of the universally employed. A third intermediary position bases itself upon the raising of social minimums, and an unconditional universal income set at a level sufficient to make work less infernal by enlarging the domain of liberty. The fourth solution enters into a resonance with the slide towards cognitive capitalism and allows for a move beyond the limits of a strategy of pure resistance.