Neo-Slavery as Instrumentalization: Amazon, Surrogate Motherhood, and Mobile Phones

Abstract

Despite being perceived as a remnant of the past, slavery persists in today's increasingly economized and biopoliticized world. To thematize the actuality of slavery, we initially return to Aristotle's discussion/justification of slavery as instrumentalization of human beings. Then we revisit Plato's allegory of the cave through three distinct readings. This threefold reading enables us to frame three present-day cases/examples to reconsider slavery: the Amazon, surrogate motherhood, and the cell phone. The concept of use is pivotal for such reconsideration. Finally, we propose the concept of neo-slavery. Although the traditional accounts of slavery understand slavery through its triangulation with property relations and force, we suggest another triangulation here: neo-slavery, instrumental use, and consent. In this way, the examination of the three cases casts the traditional accounts of slavery in a new light, revitalizing the concept of slavery by putting it into a different use.