In Episode 16 of A Genuine Inquiry Owen Kelly inquired into a key question that has hovered over every one of our podcasts: what might we mean when we talk about cultural democracy? Why might people need the term, and what can they do with it? He drew upon the work of Rachel Davis DuBois to suggest that cultural democracy forms one part of a triad that includes economic and political democracy.

In Episode 17 he looked at how culture and community relate to each other, and what we might actually do to foster community and cultural democracy. In this episode he looks at the relationship between economics and cultural democracy. He looks at some of the inequities built into our current system: daily wages vs royalties, careers vs the gig economy, showing up vs creativity. He examines proposals such as Universal Basic Income and Universal Basic Services, and asks how they could develop once we accept that communities will need to begin to foster meaning outside of work. Can we free ourselves from the work ethic and look elsewhere for the meaning in our lives?