Sociology

I.INTRODUCTION
Not for Sale by David Batstone is a shocking account of the persistence of slavery up to these modern times.  When the entire world would have thought that slavery has ended in the 19th century with the abolition of black slavery and the end of the Triangle Trade, many never realized that slavery only became invisible. Ironically slavery has persisted. It has in fact grown exponentially with the scope, intensity and frequency of human trafficking.  With 27 million people enslaved in the world today (Not for Sale Campaign), now more than ever has slavery become so widespread and oppressive even surpassing the peak of the African Slave trade when slavery was the dominant mode of life.

One is bound to ask why all these happened Why have the world been kept unawares for a long time  Are all these happening right in front of us as we are just simply blind and deaf and numbed to these realities To be able to answer these hard questions, we must first analyze the difference between classical slavery and 21st century slavery. Then we will look into common denominators between them as we sociologically and historically trace the roots of slavery.

The main thesis of this paper is that although 21st century slavery intricately connects with social inequalities of race, ethnicity, gender, culture, First Word-Third world binaries, the major defining force of modern day slavery is class oppression.  A simple illustration will suffice. You may be blackcoloredAsian, gay, lesbian, or a woman, and may at the same time belong to a minority ethnic group in a Third World country, but if you are rich...then you can never be a victim of 21st Century slavery.  On the contrary, if you are rich, disregarding the fact that you are black, a woman, a member of a discriminated ethnic group or religion, a citizen of a Third World country, you may even be one of the propagators of modern day slavery.

The explanatory power of social conflict theory in sociological analysis is the most appropriate and incisive tool of analysis to use in tackling this type social problem.

II. BODY
In his book Not for Sale David Batstone says
It is hard for many Americans to believe that slavery still exists on a grand scale in the world, let alone that it may have a foot-hold in their community. Yet there is no denying the fact that tens of thousands of people labor each day in the United States without pay and under the threat of violence. Because forced labor is often hidden in unregulated work environments or where cheap labor is the norm, most Americans will walk by an incidence of slavery and pay it no notice. (Batstone)
The Difference between Classical Slavery and Modern Day Slavery.

Why is it that people dont usually notice Let us first examine the differences between Classical slavery and modern day slavery. Here are the marked differences

With the increase in population, modern slaves have now surpassed the number of slaves during the peak of the African slave trade and the slavery of some ancient civilizations when the population was very few.

Modern slavery has now mutated into different forms such as debt bondage, child soldiers, sex slavery, domestic labor, sweat shops, agricultural labor, and even organ harvesting (Not for Sale Campaign).

With the increase of transnational operations and the monopoly capitalist globalization, the hidden slavery in the 21st century has been institutionalized and has been accepted as everyday life occurrence.  Prostitution has become so widespread as evidence in the proliferation of porn sites colonizing the internet. Sweat shops, child soldiers, and forced labor are generally accepted forms of life just so to earn a little money. Agricultural labor and debt bondage has been institutionalized due to usury and widespread poverty.  In fact the so called Third World Nations drowned in international debt have become subservient to IMF-World Bank conditionalities. This is in a sense a form of 21st century slavery on a macro scale.

Human trafficking has increased with modern modes of transportation and communication such as the airplane and the internet. Now one can easily recruit slaves in the internet who are willing to do it all for the money.

The major difference is that in classical slavery, one is an actual commodityproperty bought by money. In the modern slavery, one commodifies himself and sells his soul for the money.

Another major difference is that in the old forms of slavery, the empires and the traders are the culprits, now it is the transnationals and economic institutions that do it.

The Roots of Slavery
The common defining thread of slavery whether in its classical or modern sense, is that one is forced to work for another just in order to survive.  Thus human labor which is meant to be for the satisfaction of human wants and the fulfilment of his being and becoming human has become drudgery. Labor is alienated from us by force, deception, and circumstance by another who is more powerful.  Labor which is mean to fulfil us and transform the world will now be coerced and taken away from us to serve another and just keep us standing for another day of work. This is what Marx would call animal laborens.  Human beings are just treated as a tool to do more work for another turning them into work animals or machines that only need to be maintained from day to day to be useful. Thus human labor which is a major differentiating factor of between men and beast has now been blurred. Only human labor as compared to animals, is derived from his level of consciousness and thereby transforms the landscape of the environment.  No animal can change his environment because of his work.   However, with slavery, labor is taken away from the human being by force and deception thus turning labor into alienated labor.

Ones humanity has thus been taken away, and one is just forced to work in order to survive. How can one be considered human if ones life is just routinely working like an animal or a machine for the sake of another  Simply surviving does not mean living a full human life. We cannot fulfil our highest longings for creativity, satisfaction and self expression in our work if we are all slaves of money (Graham).

A bird eats to live so that he can fly. A bird who only eats to live but never flies has lost his beingness or birdness. In the same vein a human being works to live so that he can flower and bloom as a person. An alienated human being who simply works to live has lost his humanity. He is a slave.

Thus if we go by this definition of slavery, then many things could be explained on the phenomenon of human trafficking and the social inequalities existing today. Marx traces the roots of slavery to the social invention of private property which is not an absolute law but a social construction. Ancient civilization was founded on the treatment of land and human beings as commodities that can be owned.  Thus classes of oppressor and oppressed, haves and have nots, rich and poor, arose.  The originally equalitarian classless society now finds itself highly socially stratified.  Thus began the history of human labor being owned, bought, sold, forced, and coveted by the mechanics of wealth, power, and deception.

Thus while slavery was abolished in form with the downfall of the Roman Empire  it has persisted in essence with forced serfdom and exploitation of peasant agricultural labor during the feudal times, and wage slavery during our times.  And as money has become the sole measure of value in the world today and is grossly unequally distributed. Those who have no money become the victims of human trafficking and 21st century forms of slavery.

III. CONCLUSION
This analysis using the sociological perspective is insightful in the sense that it pinpoints the main roots of modern day slavery which is class oppression.   This principal distinction of class becomes doubly oppressive as it impinges on secondary distinctions of gender, race, and culture. Poverty engenders powerlessness (Gans) so while Human trafficking is mainly an issue of the rich versus the poor, it also finds its niche among women, children, Third World countries, ethnic minorities, colored and other culturally neglected groups.  Using the social conflict paradigm as a tool for analysis, one will realize that human trafficking is just a dramatic manifestation of slavery in the world today. It is just the tip of the iceberg. Slavery is much more widespread as global income inequalities becomes more pronounced and perverted.

David Batstone put it this way,
There are times to read history, and there are times to make history. We live right now at one of those epic moments in the fight for human freedom. We no longer have to wonder how we might respond to our moment of truth A bit overdramatic, you might think. However As Edmund Burke presented the challenge so eloquently two centuries ago, All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men and women do nothing. (Batstone, Introduction)