Slavery and strong asymmetrical dependencies
Rudolf Stichweh · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2025
This entry looks for a general analytical perspective that allows one to understand slavery and its related institutions (serfdom, debt slavery, forced labour) in premodern and modern societies. It focuses on the concept of strong asymmetrical dependencies. After discussing premodern societies, this entry looks at global modernity and its non-hierarchical character. It tries to find out why strong asymmetrical dependencies persist under modern conditions of equality and non-hierarchy. In particular, it discusses how asymmetrical dependencies switch from being part of the “official” structure of societies to being oppositional and deviant institutions. © Gert Verschraegen and Raf Vanderstraeten 2025.