Coerced, Forced and Unfree Labour: Geographies of Exploitation in Contemporary Labour Markets

Abstract

This paper examines approaches, both within geography and more broadly, to the issue of forced labour in contemporary labour markets. Far from a vestige of pre-capitalist social relations, unfree labour is part of the continuum of exploitation that is intrinsically related the contradictory nature of commodification and to capital as a social relation. The paper focuses on the UK, but draws attention to the ways in which relations of unfreedom in the new global division of labour dissolve clear-cut distinctions between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ nations. The first section focuses on definitions and approaches, including those related to migration and trafficking, from supra-national organisations such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The second section looks at geographical approaches to forced labour and examines what a spatially grounded framework can bring to analyses of unfreedom. The conclusion suggests future directions for geographical research on unfree labour, especially relating to the undertheorised relations between unfreedom, domestic labour and social reproduction.