The Conducive Environment: Reconceptualizing the Exploitation of Human Beings

Abstract Where does exploitation start and stop? When does cheap labour become forced labour? Where is the line drawn between destitution and coercion? These questions have never been properly answered, and as a result the understanding and response to issues such as modern slavery are trapped in arguments about global inequalities, border control and interpersonal versus political harm. A new definition of exploitation is developed that delivers an original conceptual framework for understanding why some people in some spaces are more likely to be exploited. Based on ‘tight’ and ‘loose’ social bonds the conducive environment explains the conditions of disruption, isolation, entitlement and desperation in which exploitation flourishes and provides a brand-new model for investigating the exploitation of human beings.