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> Sinan County has more than 850 salt farms that produce two-thirds of South Korea's sea salt. To make money, however, farmers need labor, lots of it and cheap.

> Sinan County has more than 850 salt farms that produce two-thirds of South Korea's sea salt. To make money, however, farmers need labor, lots of it and cheap. Around half of Sinui Island's 2,200 people work in salt farming, according to a county website and officials. Sadly, this is the underbelly of consumerist abstraction. Unpaid Slaves, wage slaves, salary slaves living unhealthy lives; where those without voice are scorned. Mere abstractions. This makes me think of the article "5 Studies that Show How Wealth Warps Your Soul". http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-studies-show-how-wealth-warps-your-soul http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-studies-show-how-wealth-wa... --- I'm willing to take the downvotes, if it leads to someone connecting the dots; looking beyond ideology. It's easy to blame the perpetrators. However, we all live in the same system & our choices influence many. It's time to stop passing the buck. This story is too common.

yummyfajitas 12y ago
I'll explain why I downvoted you. You are deliberately conflating slavery like what is described in this article (e.g. where attempts to quit result in being beaten with a rake), and voluntary work situations which fall short of some hypothetical ideal (i.e., "wage slavery", where slaves are free to quit if they wish). As a result of such hyperbole, it's often difficult for news consumers to tell whether a problem is real, or whether it's just activists making stuff up.
- icegreentea 12y ago
  Except that the term wage slavery is typically used in situations where the worker is either already in debt, or on the edge of debt. Obviously situations change depending on time, place, and the particular social conditions, but typically, when you use the term 'wage slavery', the implication is a situation where yes, technically the worker has the ability to quit their job whenever they want, but practically, they don't. There surely is a distinction between even those forms of wage slavery and out right chattel slavery (or whatever), but the distinction isn't nearly as great, nor really, from a human stand point, really all that different. This is especially true the more 'brutal' the wage slavery gets. Put it another way. Imagine you simply magically eliminated all forms of chattel slavery, but then immediately put all those magically freed ex-slaves in deep debt to their ex-owners (with heavy interest), and left them just as socially isolated as they are right now, and then gave them a chance to either take their chances and try to find a job somewhere else, or let them work off their debts to their ex-owners. Are they in a better position than they were before? Yes. Are they in anything remotely close to a good position? No.
  - yummyfajitas 12y ago
    If you are describing various forms of debt bondage (as practiced in India and other such places), I agree, particularly when most debt bondage involves beating those who try to quit. This problem more or less does not exist in the west, with rare exceptions like sex trafficking from eastern Europe (or from rural areas here in India). Most people using the term "wage slavery" are not restricting it to such situations - they are instead using it to describe people who might need to reduce their consumption to globally rich levels (e.g., $20k/year in the US) if they quit their job. In fact, I've never heard anyone use the term "wage slavery" to describe real labor abuses such as what you hint at.
    - chipsy 12y ago
      Illegal immigrants in Western countries can easily be led into situations that may be described as "debt bondage" or "wage slavery." They do not have legal recourses, yet are afforded a place as a "hidden" workforce of temps, day laborers, migrant workers, and sweatshop employees, with the threat of deportation used to ensure dependence. Guest workers also tend to receive discriminatory treatment, even though they have a legal status. The Bracero program in the United States was critiqued along these lines, and the situation today has not improved in a real sense, as illegal immigrants continue to be used in similar ways for similar work. These situations share a common thread with the original article in that class is created through legal status, and subsequently magnified by abuses. Enslaved workers are blocked from using resources that could get them out of their situation.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
    - mzr 12y ago
      There are examples in these comments. This quote is apt: “This is what happens when we don’t pay attention.”
      - Retra 12y ago
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
vertoc 12y ago
About your link, its an interesting study of causation vs correlation. Does too much money really make you more stingy or is being stingy how you got that much money in the first place? Does too much money make you difficult to satisfy or is it because you are difficult to satisfy that you pursue more money? etc.

yummyfajitas 12y ago

I'll explain why I downvoted you. You are deliberately conflating slavery like what is described in this article (e.g. where attempts to quit result in being beaten with a rake), and voluntary work situations which fall short of some hypothetical ideal (i.e., "wage slavery", where slaves are free to quit if they wish). As a result of such hyperbole, it's often difficult for news consumers to tell whether a problem is real, or whether it's just activists making stuff up.

icegreentea 12y ago
Except that the term wage slavery is typically used in situations where the worker is either already in debt, or on the edge of debt. Obviously situations change depending on time, place, and the particular social conditions, but typically, when you use the term 'wage slavery', the implication is a situation where yes, technically the worker has the ability to quit their job whenever they want, but practically, they don't. There surely is a distinction between even those forms of wage slavery and out right chattel slavery (or whatever), but the distinction isn't nearly as great, nor really, from a human stand point, really all that different. This is especially true the more 'brutal' the wage slavery gets. Put it another way. Imagine you simply magically eliminated all forms of chattel slavery, but then immediately put all those magically freed ex-slaves in deep debt to their ex-owners (with heavy interest), and left them just as socially isolated as they are right now, and then gave them a chance to either take their chances and try to find a job somewhere else, or let them work off their debts to their ex-owners. Are they in a better position than they were before? Yes. Are they in anything remotely close to a good position? No.
- yummyfajitas 12y ago
  If you are describing various forms of debt bondage (as practiced in India and other such places), I agree, particularly when most debt bondage involves beating those who try to quit. This problem more or less does not exist in the west, with rare exceptions like sex trafficking from eastern Europe (or from rural areas here in India). Most people using the term "wage slavery" are not restricting it to such situations - they are instead using it to describe people who might need to reduce their consumption to globally rich levels (e.g., $20k/year in the US) if they quit their job. In fact, I've never heard anyone use the term "wage slavery" to describe real labor abuses such as what you hint at.
  - chipsy 12y ago
    Illegal immigrants in Western countries can easily be led into situations that may be described as "debt bondage" or "wage slavery." They do not have legal recourses, yet are afforded a place as a "hidden" workforce of temps, day laborers, migrant workers, and sweatshop employees, with the threat of deportation used to ensure dependence. Guest workers also tend to receive discriminatory treatment, even though they have a legal status. The Bracero program in the United States was critiqued along these lines, and the situation today has not improved in a real sense, as illegal immigrants continue to be used in similar ways for similar work. These situations share a common thread with the original article in that class is created through legal status, and subsequently magnified by abuses. Enslaved workers are blocked from using resources that could get them out of their situation.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
  - mzr 12y ago
    There are examples in these comments. This quote is apt: “This is what happens when we don’t pay attention.”
    - Retra 12y ago
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

vertoc 12y ago

About your link, its an interesting study of causation vs correlation. Does too much money really make you more stingy or is being stingy how you got that much money in the first place? Does too much money make you difficult to satisfy or is it because you are difficult to satisfy that you pursue more money? etc.