Slavery

Slavery is defined by Merriam Webster as "the state of a person who is a chattel of another." Despite being a well-known phenomenon, it is difficult to precisely define. Significant debates continue to rage over whether slavery is merely historical or whether it continues till this day in certain forms.

Competing definitions

The scholar and historian Dr. Jonathan AC Brown has described the various definitions that have been proposed for the concept of "slavery." He argues that there is no single all-encompassing definition that works in all times and places - each definition has its shortcomings one way or another. In addition to Dr. Brown, other scholars have noted the difficulty of defining slavery; for example the scholar of slavery in Western civilization David Brion Davis has said, "the more we learn about slavery, the more difficulty we have defining it."

Refusal to define: slavery by recognition

According to this point of view, instead of giving an actual definition of slavery, we can simply say that slavery is known when recognized. If we see a particular scenario and it seems like it's slavery, then it probably is, and if it seems OK to us then it probably isn't slavery.

Dr. Brown points out that there were many instances of slavery that wouldn't look like slavery to the modern eye - for example, many of the Ottoman grand viziers were legally slaves.

Slavery as lack of freedom

Along with slavery-as-property, this is one of the most common definitions of freedom. It simply states that a slave is one whose freedom is involuntarily restricted by another human being. However, Dr. Brown points out that one's freedom is constantly restricted by other people all the time - by family members, coworkers, teachers, and so on. Thus there is no dichotomy between being "slave" and "free," rather the amount of freedom one has is always waxing and waning depending on the circumstance.

Dr. Brown also writes that some slaves attained more freedom after becoming slaves. For example, the Ottoman janissaries acquired land and political power which allowed them the freedom to do more things than they would have as peasants.

Slavery as property

Defining a slave as a human being as the property of another human being is one of the most common and straightforward definitions of slavery. In fact, this definition has precedent in multiple legal traditions. However, this definition is complicated by the fact that "property" is also a legal abstraction that's not always straightforward. Furthermore, in many past civilizations that had allowed slavery, the slave was given rights that a piece of property does not have - for example, a master could not kill his slave or even beat him.

In addition, activists who are working to abolish what's been termed "modern slavery" (see below) have conceptualized slavery as existing in contexts where the enslaved individuals are not the property of their masters, at least not in a legal sense. This further complicates the definition of slavery as human property.

Slavery as class

Too broad?

Slavery as violent coercion

Again too broad.

Modern slavery

An interesting phenomenon.