Universalitatea în redistribuție ca ideal normativ
Universality in redistribution as a normative ideal

Summary/Abstract: The social stigma associated with welfare programs recipients is a widely documented phenomenon. Negative social attitudes towards welfare recipients and the stigma surrounding certain governmental policies designed to alleviate poverty affect both the performance of services and the demand for it. The effects of social stigma can be addressed through policies designed to appeal to universality, not selectivity, such as an Universal Basic Income program. I argue that we have strong reasons to find universal redistributive policies morally and politically preferable to those that are conditional or selective, such as The Negative Income Tax and conditional benefits programs. John Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness provides some valuable insights regarding the reasons for which social stigma bears moral and political significance to individuals and why self-respect has to be regarded as a fundamental social primary good. Building on this insight, I argue that if we prioritize individuals’ self-respect we have strong reasons to commit to an universal tax-and-transfer redistributive scheme.

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