You might argue that employment is optional, but this is not the case in practice especially if you have a family to support.
You might argue that you can just find a better job. But almost all jobs feel like 9-5 slavery. And the search for a better job may end up in unemployment or a job that's even worse.
No, employment is not 'sort of' a form of slavery, it's not even close. Slavery is a very dark practice that removes choice and imprisons people, employment breeds opportunity. So I'd argue, they're opposites.
When you are trying to feed your family or one of the many unemployed in even the richest countries, I'm sure hearing someone compare employment to slavery would be extremely insulting.
Well said. I would also add that slavery in the history of the U.S. was especially dark. Slaves were not only robbed of their freedom, but also treated as less than human in many cases enduring the whip, beatings, rape and general mistreatment.
Many of the employment conditions of the 19th century that eventually led to various laws and labor unions were nowhere near as bad as the dark parts of slaver you allude to, but they were no picnic either.
The US practice of tying health care to employment still smacks of something unsavory to me.
If employees were slaves, there would be no reason for employers to compete for them.
I really find it unbelievable that someone would even contemplate such a comparison and think it a meaningful one.
Your employer does not own you, you can switch employers whenever you want - or you can stop working all together.
Nobody is going to come after you to murder you or haul you back if you run away.
No employer is going to sell you to any other, or take physical advantage of you.
You are not born into employment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slavery
Is word play, it relates to being 'forced', but in reality nobody is really forced. It's just that if you want to take part in society you are expected to pull your weight, and that means either getting a job or doing your own thing (being self employed).
I think that people can be placed in compromising positions by economies and cultures that they're a part of. A concrete and probably relevant example could be student loans: a student incurs a tremendous debt for their education, only to be obligated to work in order to service that debt.
Also, your last sentence irks me. Contributing to your community does not mean to have a job. There are plenty of ways to 'pull your weight' that don't involve making money. Building community spaces, plain talking to people, working on a neighborhood watch are all beneficial but are often unpaid. Paying taxes does not necessarily make for a successful community.
That we choose to associate such that we are not all individually responsible for every requirement that reality imposes on us is not slavery. It is simply the universe.
Further, it is not your boss that requires you to buy a new car. It is your choice. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and ordering you to go out to eat instead of eating lentil soup. It is your choice.
You want to avoid "wage slavery?" It is simple. SPEND LESS, and you will not need to make as much. The actual bottom of what you are required to spend is quite low and can be very feasibly picked up in odd jobs, transient employment, and judicious use of public services; you don't even need to go "Mountain Man". But it is not slavery. You have chosen this. If you feel you have no choice but to choose civilization and employment, that is because (free) civilization is a fucking good deal! I only wish there were more like it! Stop whining and enjoy it. Or man up, pay the piper, and disconnect. But don't come whining to me about the consequences.
Slavery is when you are told to do nasty work, and you will be shot if you don't. Or raped, regardless of your gender. It's not even remotely the same.
Does that mean you'd consider being a parent to be "slavery"? Were cavemen "slaves" because they had to hunt to feed their family?
Quit flamebaiting. This isn't "intellectually curious."
In the case of an Asian factory worker with no options better than living in factory dorms and working extremely long shifts at often dangerous tasks for little pay to make toys that stock Wal-Mart, the slavery label may have some truth in it. Toni Morrison has spoken a lot in these terms recently, and had a big impact in my thinking as she laid out her evidence.
In the case of an American white or blue collar worker with a limited public social safety net it has more similarity to a feudal system. Matt Taibbi alludes to this in an interesting blog post today: http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/10/06/michael-moores-pr...
OK so let's engage in a thought experiment - we make employment optional, so you don't have to work even if you have a family to support. But now, in order to get the resources to support your family, you have to force someone else to do something they don't want to do.
So protecting you from the "slavery" of employment necessarily implies some degree of slavery for some third party, because the resources needed to support your family don't come from nowhere. That's really not fair to the third party, don't you think?
And even were it not, a particular place of employment can still be left.
That said, you might want to reconsider things in both directions. If someone has a very short time horizon, but is capable of doing useful labor, a slave owner will probably treat them better than they'd treat themselves. This is a very reactionary view, which happens to be exemplified by the progressive political movement -- conservatives are okay with letting somebody, e.g., survive on payday loans and live in a flophouse; liberals would rather own more of their economic output and constrain their freedom for their own good.
And even if they do find another job, it may turn out to be even worse than the one they left.
Let's ban choice!
And even if they do find another partner, they might turn out to be worse than the one they left.
Therefore, being in a relationship is, by your yardstick, "slavery."
(joking)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant
A good reason to start own business.
And become indentured to your customers.