Modern Forms of Slavery Sociology Essay Sample

In the United States of America, the questions of freedom, liberty and dignity still remain unanswered and unsolved today, and people continue combating injustice. People suffer from different forms of abuse and endless cruel treatment due to their skin color, which leads to so-called modern slavery. There are no appropriate rules or laws that can support African Americans or Asians, and the government does not pay attention to the current situation as it is a profitable and lucrative point connected with human trafficking based on the forced labor and sex trade. Society dictates stable laws including very strict, at times, dreadful rules to subject women and men to slavery because of the lack of money needed to feed their families. Thus, modern slavery exists in such forms as forced labor, sex trafficking, and involuntary domestic servitude caused by global poverty, which is based on unemployment leading to the violation of human rights and inequality related to the question of racism.

Forms of Present-Day Slavery

Explicitly, there is no justice in slavery at all as “forced labor is a form of modern slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others” (Shelley 117). Forced labor is one of the most common forms of slavery as it relates to all genders and ages. “The worldwide market for labor is far greater than for sex” (Feingold 26). Women, men, and children become victims of forced labor, being compelled to work hard abroad. Men are usually gathered in Thailand because the national law does not qualify men as victims of trafficking. They often work without payment and experience sleep deprivation and even rape. In this case, traffickers use constant violence, debt bondage, threats and deception in order to manipulate their victims, who totally lose freedom and independence. Traffickers transport women, men and children by using their vulnerabilities and often apply physical violence to control them in a powerful way. The point is that traffickers offer people a well-paid job and a large variety of opportunities at first and then exploit them like slaves, thus getting a considerable profit. Forced labor involves transporting and trading people of all ages for only one purpose, which is forced and unlawful work. According to different surveys and statistics, more than two million people around the world become victims of forced labor, which has a negative and destructive impact on personal background and dignity (Feingold 26). As for men, they do hard jobs, and trafficking of women is usually related to sex industry as they are forced to work as prostitutes or are used for other sexual forms of female exploitation. Nevertheless, it is possible to control forced labor by amending the appropriate law, implementing new reforms, and reinforcing national action plans.

Sex trafficking is violent exploitation of women in and out of the national and international borders, when women are forced to have a sex work based on pornography or prostitution (Farr 98). Women make desperate attempts to find any job and even do not suspect that online escort services lead to slavery based on high income and a minimum risk for sex traffickers, who just supply and demand. According to the annual estimates, around eight thousand women are trafficked beyond the country to become sex slaves either being exchanged for money or some goods (Feingold 26). Some female victims can be visible as they work as street prostitutes, and others can remain unseen because their owners place them in private locations, which are rather difficult to find. This kind of human trafficking exists mainly in the poorest countries due to the economic crisis, which makes women and girls unsecure and more vulnerable there than in other countries. On the other hand, sex trafficking is a huge business and a well-organized crime, the main purpose of which is to deliver women for forced sex work, which is often related to physical abuse, violence, prostitution and other correlative elements of slavery. It is understandable that such actions are illegal in any country, but they still exist as current regulations and anti-trafficking legislation do not have enough power to control this business. Thus, it is necessary to prevent sex trafficking by improving economics of every country and conducting global TV campaigns, which will enlighten people about all possible consequences of sex trade.

Involuntary domestic servitude is another type of modern slavery as it is connected with the violation of human rights and mistreatment of people including children. “Domestic servitude may involve such abuses as confiscation of travel documents, withholding of wages, degrading treatment, and threats of harm” (Pope 1475). Some countries determine freedom of domestic workers by law, and such people cannot leave their workplace as well as the country even if they need to escape the abuse. According to the reports of the International Labor Organization, in many countries, owners use children as servants who have to do domestic work instead of getting education (Pope 1476). In order to prevent involuntary domestic servitude, the government of every country must ban the emigration of women and children including all illegal channels. Also, it is obligatory to adopt particular laws all over the world to fight involuntary domestic servitude. Additionally, every country must change unemployment level, which compels men and women to find any job abroad being trapped to live and work in slavery.

Reasons for Slavery

Poor people try to cope with difficulties they encounter in life constantly by searching for new places of work, but the only way they discover is slavery. For instance, Linda Tirado focuses on such a global problem as poverty, indicating that unemployment and part-time job make people not live but exist, and they force them to look for some alternatives, which often results in being trapped and becoming victims of human trafficking (116). Many Americans are at the bottom of poverty as their jobs do not bring a good income and they are forced to live in insane conditions. The poor do not have enough money to have all the necessary medical care including access to contraception and appropriate treatment. Most people live in terrible conditions as their part-time jobs do not bring enough money to feed their families. The author indicates that people develop bad habits as they need to fight stress and other hardships. It is evident that government does not care about its population and current problems are rooted in unemployment and constant lack of money. On the other hand, poor people often get involved in unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol and drugs abuse without thinking about possible consequences in the nearest future.

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The minimum wage is not enough to make a good living, pay for the apartment, electricity and food, thus, women long for a new job and, eventually, encounter sex trafficking. Desperation makes women do many ugly things, including having sex with their bosses, who force a female part of the personnel to have relationships based on sex. The worst thing is that the third part of Americans has a low budget despite the fact that they work hard, and most companies hire employees suggesting just part-time job for years as it is the cheapest and most profitable way to save money (Tirado 144). Such strategy of employers shows that they do not care about their workers, but focus on their business in order to get more income. People are ready to work in so-called insane conditions in order to get money. Such workers do not have another choice and are ready to work even if they get numerous scars and injuries. These points do not stop people from working as slaves because they have lost their hope for a better future. Employers usually dictate what it is necessary to do, not taking into account employees’ needs. In this case, the dignity of workers is repressed. Thus, people begin to degrade, forgetting about their rights and liberties.

Most poor people do the hardest jobs as they do not have another choice to survive. Getting less than a minimal wage, they work in unhealthy conditions and have extra hours all the time, but employers do not pay enough, neither do they receive any additional payments. The main point is that employees are physically and mentally tired of being poorly treated. Nobody cares that sleeping a few hours, lifting heavy objects and working on feet exhaust the workers who do not have any rest or moral satisfaction. It also affects the quality of their work. In their need to survive, people engage in low-wage jobs, suffer from inhuman conditions and ignore depression and other health-related problems because time is money. Thus, all the jobs refer to emotional labor based on the physical actions that allow people to survive.

The social aspects of race and racism refer to the constructed principles of the society as these issues are the elements of slavery today (Pope 1475). Although people should be equal and have the same human rights to live in a free way, racism is still a widespread problem. This idea proves that everybody must be equally treated because there is no so-called American ethnicity. Nevertheless, some people pretend and behave in the way as if they are better than others due to their race. On the other hand, millions of people call themselves Americans, being Chinese or Korean, for a specific purpose, namely, because they want to make the surrounding world recognize their identity. Nowadays, a large number of people discuss issues that concern the theories of racism and ethnicity, belonging to different nationalities and the existence of slavery in the modern world. Some of them want to be identified according to their nationality, being racists in expressing their own thoughts. However, slavery leads to the violation of human rights even though people deserve to have freedom in treating against fight and strife.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the twenty-first century encounters many social problems, but slavery is one of the most essential issues, which destroys society as it violates human rights, freedom and independence. In this case, human trafficking is a precise result of destructive principles of the society because people suffer from poverty all over the world and are ready to work like slaves in order to get money. Moreover, modern types of slavery refer to forced labor, sex trade, and involuntary domestic servitude that kill millions of people who become poor victims of deceit due to their vulnerability and helplessness in trying to feed their families. Undoubtedly, the increase of unemployment compels men and women to long for new ways of earning money and becoming either victims of sex trafficking or involuntary domestic servitude based on unlawful and unjust treatment of the owners. On the other hands, slavery is an accurate indicator of human inequality based on racism.