Search: Kevin Bales

Disposable People

by Kevin Bales (University of California Press, 2004).

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Summary:

Disposable People shows that across the world, the conditions are right for modern-day slavery.  People are being economically exploited and held under the threat of violence.  This modern-day slavery looks different than “old slavery”—for instance, slavery in the American South before the 1860’s—but it is no less a reality and no less of a crime against humanity.  The first chapter in Disposable People highlights the key differences between “old slavery” and “new slavery”—including human trafficking.

    
Chapters 2-6 examine modern-day slavery in Thailand, Mauritania, Brazil, Pakistan and India.  Combining scholarship with true stories and survivor’s firsthand accounts, Kevin Bales shows how economic, social and cultural values contribute and perpetuate varied forms of modern-day slavery.  The final chapter of the book seriously asks the question “what can be done?”  Bales takes a dispassionate look at slaves as a commodity in order to strategize ways to make slavery less profitable and therefore less in-demand.  He believes that most people are willing to do something to end slavery, but very few are willing to make a great sacrifice.  The good news is no great miracle is required: he believes that slavery can be stopped by enforcing existing laws and agreements, developing a few new ones, and providing assistance to get victims back on their feet.  The book concludes with a list of actions you can take to stop slavery, notes on his research methods, and excerpts from international conventions on slavery.

Why does FASTEN recommend this resource?

Kevin Bales is the director of Free the Slaves and a professor of sociology in England.  He is the world’s leading expert on contemporary slavery.  This book is for readers who want to understand the economic forces behind modern-day slavery and learn more about the situations of people in bondage across the world.