Buford Farris, a stalwart of the basic income movement, died peacefully at aged 98 in Austin, Texas on October 5, 2024. His work was important in keeping the movement for a basic income guarantee alive during the difficult days in the late twentieth century and in building the movement again in the early years of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network.
Farris was a sociologist and social worker who rose to be Chair at the Department of Sociology at St. Louis University in the 1990s. He moved to Texas after retiring.
His basic income work focused both on the sociological case for basic income and on religious arguments for basic income. His articles on basic income included:
- Was it only a Dream: Guaranteed Income through the eyes of a Sixties Poverty Warrior in Texas (2002)
- A Real War on Poverty: Guaranteed Income Plus (2003)
- The Compassionate Face of Religion: A Grounding for a Guaranteed Income (2005)
- Happy Workers. Welfare Queens and Surfers: Images in the Debate Around a Guaranteed Income (2007)
- Compassionate Liberalism as a Frame for a Renewed War on Poverty (2008)
- Sociology and Basic Income: A Case Study of Four Theorists (2009).
I miss his measured enthusiasm and the experience and optimism he brought to the renewed movement for basic income.
For more information about Buford Farris see his official obituary.