[A-List] slavery

[Andre Gunder Frank <franka@xxxxxxx>]

extract from a tale from India, perhaps the most slavish country
today. But slavery also exists in Los Angeles and New York City - AGF


Scientific American, April 2002

The Social Psychology of Modern Slavery

Contrary to conventional wisdom, slavery has not disappeared from the
world. Social scientists are trying to explain its persistence

[a tale from India, perhaps the most slavish country today. But slavery
also exists in Los Angeles and New York City - AGF]

By Kevin Bales

To many people, it comes as a surprise that debt bondage and other forms
of slavery persist into the 21st century. Every country, after all, has
made it illegal to own and exercise total control over another human
being. And yet there are people like Baldev who remain enslaved--by my
estimate, which is based on a compilation of reports from governments and
nongovernmental organizations, perhaps 27 million of them around the
world. If slaveholders no longer own slaves in a legal sense, how can they
still exercise so much control that freed slaves sometimes deliver
themselves back into bondage? This is just one of the puzzles that make
slavery the greatest challenge faced by the social sciences today. Despite
being among the oldest and most persistent forms of human relationships,
found in most societies at one time or another, slavery is little
understood. Although historians have built up a sizable literature on
antebellum American slavery, other types have barely been studied. It is
as if our understanding of all arachnids were based on clues left by a
single species of extinct spider. In our present state of ignorance, we
have little hope of truly eradicating slavery, of making sure that Meera,
[[able with outside help to buy herself and remain free] rather than
Baldev [bought free with windfall,but returned ''voluntarily''] ,
becomes the model.





    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

               ANDRE    GUNDER      FRANK

Senior Fellow                                      Residence
World History Center                    One Longfellow Place
Northeastern University                            Apt. 3411
270 Holmes Hall                         Boston, MA 02114 USA
Boston, MA 02115 USA                    Tel:    617-948 2315
Tel: 617 - 373 4060                     Fax:    617-948 2316
Web-page:csf.colorado.edu/agfrank/     e-mail:franka@xxxxxxx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~