Slavery

People are considered slaves when they are compelled to perform involuntary labour for a person or group, usually under conditions that make them socially inferior and deprive them of most of their rights or freedom. Forced labour, contract labour and serfdom are variants.

Within a socio-cultural context, people may be considered slaves when for their own survival, they are compelled by forces within that context to perform involuntary actions such that others benefit disproportionately in terms of status, privileges and freedoms.

The all-encompassing scope of behavioural chains which completely condition those affected to the point that freedom is associated with undesirable insecurity.

The expression 'wage slave' has been used to describe those working in capitalist systems, just as citizens of totalitarian states have been described as slaves. Both these examples emphasize the economic dimension, thus disguising more subtle forms of slavery and bondage associated with belief systems or with the exploitative paradigms within which people may function.

Galley slaves and assembly lines. Military conscription. Plantation labour. Personal slaves. Emancipation. Chain gangs. Slave forms and slave breeding.