Shortly before the 2025 federal elections, experts from the Faculty of Applied Social Studies will be discussing an unconditional basic income and the alternative idea of free social infrastructure services. "We are not an election campaign event," emphasized Prof. Dr. Ute Fischer in her opening statement. Rather, it is about scientific discourse, about the pros and cons, about an objective and fact-based struggle for positions, about new perspectives in social policy.
According to Ute Fischer, the fact that almost 100 participants registered for the symposium "Unconditional basic income and social infrastructure?!" shows that social policy and the question of fair distribution are still topical issues. Also - or especially - because the tone in politics is becoming harsher. "Anyone who claims benefits must first prove themselves worthy," says the researcher, summarizing the direction of the political discourse. As if "social benefits are a service of friendship and not a legal entitlement".
Representatives from social associations, initiatives, universities and institutes gathered in the lecture hall of the faculty on the Emil-Figge-Straße campus on January 24, 2025. Students from Fachhochschule Dortmund and other universities were also in the audience. Concepts and ideas for social distribution were discussed in several presentations. And sometimes emotionally. Should everyone be given enough money to secure their livelihood and participate in society (unconditional basic income) or would it be better to provide a free infrastructure for housing, mobility, education, health and communication (social infrastructure) instead of money? Do these ideas contradict the market economy and what role do competition and economic diversity play? Why does a society focus almost exclusively on wage-based work when it comes to performance? Can social security strengthen social cohesion?
Master's students involved in the organization
There were many answers, and just as many new questions. This was also exciting for the participating Master's students from the "Social Sustainability and Demographic Change" study program, who helped organize the symposium at Fachhochschule Dortmund. The speakers included social workers and sociologists, political scientists and economists. In addition to Fachhochschule Dortmund, the renowned Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS), the Basic Income Network Germany and the Basic Income and Social Cohesion Network "BIEN Austria" were also involved as co-organizers.
After four double hours of theory, the participants went together to the Pauluskirche in Dortmund's Nordstadt district. The closing event of the symposium brought together academic expertise and practical experience. Anja Butschkau, women's policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group in NRW and chairwoman of the AWO Dortmund sub-district, Bastian Pütter, journalist for the street magazine "bodo" and spokesperson for German-language street newspapers, Hannah Rosenbaum, Green Party candidate for the Bundestag and mayor of Dortmund's Nordstadt district, and theologian Friedrich Laker took part in the panel discussion. The audience took the opportunity to engage in a lively discussion with the two politicians about ways to create a fairer society.