peonage
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈpiːənɪdʒ/
- NSFW
- Many workers found themselves trapped in peonage, toiling endlessly to pay off their debts.
- debt peonage
Examples
-
To staff hundreds of large and small henequen haciendas cheaply, the Yucatecan landowners relied on debt peonage.
Academic text (2002) -
What an amazing country we'd be today without debt peonage and racism.
Blog text (34) -
Appropriate regulation would need to ensure this does not become a form of peonage, but the concept could work.
Blog text (18) -
Most of them work under conditions that border on peonage at dismally low wage rates.
Academic text (1991) -
From the 1870s to the 1890s, half of the state's farmers were reduced to peonage.
Academic text (2008) -
Hacendados secured a steady workforce through the payment of wages and such means as debt peonage.
Academic text (1994) -
Further, restrictionists argued, Mexican peonage affected white workers' prospects for economic advancement and dignity.
Academic text (2002) -
The government implemented reforms to eliminate peonage and protect workers' rights.
-
Historically, debt peonage has kept vulnerable communities in a cycle of exploitation.
Synonyms
297
4.8
A system where people are owned and forced to work without pay or rights
28
8.9
To be forced to work for and obey another person like a slave
26
4.4
Work people are forced to do without pay, often under threat
1
8.1
A situation when people must work for very low pay with no control or choice
1
8.9
An employer forces people and their families to work to pay a debt, often for generations
How Coercive
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Peonage comes from Spanish peón ('foot soldier' or 'worker') plus the ending -age meaning 'state or condition', and the root is like pedal ('foot'). So, peonage means being forced to work to pay a debt.