peonage
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈpiːənɪdʒ/
- NSFW
:
peonaje
- 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
225
4.8
A system where people are owned and forced to work without pay or rights
31
8.9
To be forced to work for and obey another person like a slave
20
4.4
Work people are forced to do without pay, often under threat
1
8.9
An employer forces people and their families to work to pay a debt, often for generations
1
8.1
A situation when people must work for very low pay with no control or choice
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.