I also interpreted the word as randomdata did. I think this is an American thing. When I think of sharecropping it makes me think of farmers under a landlord i

I also interpreted the word as randomdata did. I think this is an American thing. When I think of sharecropping it makes me think of farmers under a landlord in medieval England or something. Not a great power dynamic but the word isn't all that negative, it just emphasises (when used as a metaphor elsewhere) that you work and stay at the landlord's pleasure. I've heard americans use the word before but didn't realise it came loaded with all this historical meaning from the slavery era, turning it into a highly negative concept.