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Surprised to see "purchased from" paired with "slaves." It shows that the way slaves were treated was more nuanced than I thought. (Perhaps out of guilt? Becaus
by charlieflowers 8y ago
Surprised to see "purchased from" paired with "slaves." It shows that the way slaves were treated was more nuanced than I thought. (Perhaps out of guilt? Because it seems any slave owner had enough power over slaves to just take them if desired).
- yorwba 8y agoIf slaves can't be trusted not to run away without constant supervision, they're not cheaper than just paying someone to do the work (unless one person can somehow supervise a large group of slaves). What keeps a slave from running away even if they have the opportunity is the risk of getting caught and punished. But if the slaves are always punished (e.g. by forcefully removing their teeth), the decision is suddenly in favor of running away and maybe evading punishment. So it is in the interest of the slave owner to mostly treat their slaves like normal workers and pay them. The benefit of ownership is just that slaves can't easily find another job, so they can be paid less than a free worker.