Symposium "Unconditional basic income and social infrastructure?!"

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Fast facts

Organizer
Applied Social Sciences
Location
Emil-Figge-Straße Campus
Date & Time
01/24/20259.00o'clock–20.30o'clock

Information

Now more than ever

The dispute over the federal government's draft budget, the "traffic light" exit, obligations arising from acute crises such as the war in Ukraine, the economic slump and the threat of a drop in sales due to the outcome of the US election seem to leave no room for socio-political demands or even visionary flights of fancy. But it is precisely these crises that point to the dead ends into which austerity policies lead: not least the shift to the right in parts of the country is evidence of the consequences of great uncertainty and existential concerns. Against this backdrop, open discussions and courageous reflection on alternatives for the future are all the more urgent. This is the agenda and goal of the Social Policy Symposium in Dortmund.

The Faculty of Applied Social Studies at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences - and in particular our students on the "Social Sustainability and Demographic Change" Master's course - is organizing a workshop on the topic of "Unconditional Basic Income and Social Infrastructure?!" in collaboration with the Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS), the Basic Income Network Germany and BIEN Austria. Connections and contradictions on the way to a sustainable society".

Please register for the symposium by e-mail by 10.01.2025:
FFachtag-Sozialpolitikfh-dortmundde Sozialpolitik@fh-dortmund.de

Graphic in the corporate design of the Basic Income Symposium, showing the title and date of the event

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Topic

Some focus on unconditional financial security for all, as the basis for securing livelihoods and participation, freedom for self-determination and the exercise of care activities; others focus on participation in education, health, transport, housing, energy and political decisions. Two approaches: Unconditional basic income (UBI/UBI) and social infrastructure/services (SI/UBS) - two paths, same goals? Do they contradict or complement each other? Do both paths lead to a sustainable, future-proof society? What would such a society look like? And how could such a transformation be set in motion?

Aim of the event

The workshop aims to introduce both ideas and discuss their strengths, weaknesses, connections, incompatibilities and implementation paths. To this end, both approaches will first be presented on an academic level, controversially examined and related to related debates (de-growth, everyday economy). In the next step, two popular political initiatives will be presented (public luxury, care revolution) and examined against the background of the theories. Finally, the practicability of the approaches is examined using the living situation and interests of homeless and homeless people as an example. The change of location from the university to the (northern) city also stands for a change of perspective: How could a transformation of society succeed in view of the approaches and ideas? How do the actors themselves see it?

Organizers

The workshop is organized by the Fachhochschule Dortmund in partnership with FRIBIS(Opens in a new tab) , the Basic Income Network Germany(Opens in a new tab) and the Basic Income and Social Cohesion Network - BIEN Austria(Opens in a new tab) . Margit Appel, Ronald Blaschke(Opens in a new tab) , Ute Fischer(Opens in a new tab) and Gudrun Kaufmann from the FRIBIS Team care(Opens in a new tab) are among the key participants from FRIBIS.

Target group and registration

The event is aimed at Master's and Bachelor's students, colleagues with a focus on social policy (especially homelessness), other guests and cooperation partners as well as the wider urban community and civil society initiatives.

Please register for the symposium by e-mail by 10.01.2025:
FFachtag-Sozialpolitikfh-dortmundde Sozialpolitik@fh-dortmund.de

Program

The program can be seen here PDF-File 1,69 MB .

Speakers

Margit Appel (Vienna, Austria), political scientist and sociologist, former research associate at the Catholic Social Academy of Austria, co-founder of the network Basic Income and Social Cohesion - BIEN Austria. Freelance author and speaker on topics such as feminist economics, (care) work and unconditional basic income.

Dr. Richard Bärnthaler (Leeds, Great Britain), socio-ecological economist, Assistant Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Leeds, head of the Economics and Policy for Sustainabilty research group, board member of the European Society for Ecological Economics, on the scientific advisory board of the Competence Centre for Everyday Economics and Associate Editor of the journal Sustainability: Science, Practice, Policy.

Ronald Blaschke (Dresden), Dipl. Phil., Dipl. Päd., co-founder of the Basic Income Network, member of the Network Council and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Basic Income Network, member of the FRIBIS Care Team.

Dr. Dierk Borstel (Dortmund), political scientist, professor of practice-oriented political science at Fachhochschule Dortmund, teaches and researches, among other things, on threats to liberal democracy, processes of radicalization and homelessness.

Anja Butschkau (Dortmund), qualified social worker, member of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia (SPD), spokesperson on women's issues for the SPD parliamentary group and member of the Committee for Labor, Health and Social Affairs and the Committee for Equality and Women, chairwoman of the AWO sub-district of Dortmund and deputy chairwoman of the AWO district of West Westphalia.

Dr. Ute Fischer (Dortmund), economist and sociologist, professor of political and social sciences at Fachhochschule Dortmund, member of the FRIBIS Care team and the scientific advisory board of the Basic Income Network, co-founder of the "Freedom instead of full employment" initiative.

Elfriede Harth (Frankfurt am Main), activist in the Care Revolution network. She graduated from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and the Ecole de Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (also in Paris). She is a housewife and now a grandmother and worked for several years as a lobbyist for sexual and reproductive rights in international cooperation in the European Parliament.

Friedrich Laker (Dortmund), Protestant theologian and pastor of the Pauluskirche Dortmund (Ev. Lydia-Kirchengemeinde), initiator and director of "Pauluskirche & Kultur" since 2004, an innovative format for dialog between church, art and society with philosophical panel discussions, cultural events and contemporary forms of worship.

David J. Petersen (Flensburg), socio-economist and currently a research associate at the Department of Plural Economics and the Norbert Elias Center for Transformation Design & Research at the European University of Flensburg. At Economists for Future, he is committed to sustainable Business Studies.

Bastian Pütter (Dortmund), journalist, heads the editorial team of the social street magazine bodo and is the spokesperson for German-language street newspapers in the International Network of Street Newspapers (INSP).

Tim Sonnenberg (Dortmund), social worker and research assistant at the Fachhochschule Dortmund. His research focuses on "discrimination against homeless people" and "non-formal social work".

Lukas Warning (Berlin), political economist and co-founder of communia. He studied in Maastricht, Toulouse and Koblenz. He worked as an educational consultant for climate justice, founded and coordinated the civil society action alliance Wachstumswende Bremen and worked as a campaigner and consultant for socio-ecological transformation at Oxfam Germany.

Moderators

Organizer

Faculty of Applied Social Studies together with Netzwerk Grundeinkommen Deutschland, Netzwerk Grundeinkommen und sozialer Zusammenhalt - BIEN Austria and FRIBIS.

Applied Social Sciences