Forced labour – well-hidden mechanisms of dependence and enslavement

• Authors: Zbigniew Lasocik

Title variants

PL

Praca przymusowa – ukryte mechanizmy zależności i zniewolenia

Abstracts

EN

Forced labour is a social phenomenon which is difficult to comprehend and accept due to its exceptional nature. The existing legal definition is not very helpful. This article reflects on a different approach to understanding forced labour and a different operational definition of the phenomenon. The starting point is to look at forced labour from the perspective of social pragmatism and symbolic interactionism by referring to the humanistic coefficient, a concept developed one hundred years ago. Using the experience of Poland in unsuccessful attempts to deal with forced labour, but also referring to global experiences in that field, this article attempts to define the phenomenon in the context of work in general. The key question that arises here is this that if work is a noble and socially visible phenomenon, how is it then that forced labour is almost completely invisible, not only to people, but also to law enforcement? It is suggested in this text that forced labour, burdened with a strong social taboo, is hidden behind a façade of the nobility of labour. At the end of the article, there is a proposal for a new analytical scheme with which the phenomenon can be described in a completely different language than that of criminal justice.

PL

Forced labour is a social phenomenon which is difficult to comprehend and accept due to its exceptional nature. The existing legal definition is not very helpful. This article reflects on a different approach to understanding forced labour and a different operational definition of the phenomenon. The starting point is to look at forced labour from the perspective of social pragmatism and symbolic interactionism by referring to the humanistic coefficient, a concept developed one hundred years ago. Using the experience of Poland in unsuccessful attempts to deal with forced labour, but also referring to global experiences in that field, this article attempts to define the phenomenon in the context of work in general. The key question that arises here is this that if work is a noble and socially visible phenomenon, how is it then that forced labour is almost completely invisible, not only to people, but also to law enforcement? It is suggested in this text that forced labour, burdened with a strong social taboo, is hidden behind a façade of the nobility of labour. At the end of the article, there is a proposal for a new analytical scheme with which the phenomenon can be described in a completely different language than that of criminal justice.   Praca przymusowa jest zjawiskiem społecznym, które ze względu na swój wyjątkowy charakter jest trudne do zrozumienia i zaakceptowania. Istniejąca definicja prawna nie jest szczególnie pomocna. W artykule przedstawione jest inne podejście do rozumienia pracy przymusowej oraz nieco inna, ale operacyjna definicja tego zjawiska. Punktem wyjścia jest spojrzenie na pracę przymusową z perspektywy społecznego pragmatyzmu i symbolicznego interakcjonizmu, odwołujące się do koncepcji współczynnika humanistycznego, wypracowanej sto lat temu. Patrząc na doświadczenia Polski, tzn. nieudane próby radzenia sobie z problemem pracy przymusowej, ale także na podobne doświadczenia w skali globalnej, podejmuję próbę zdefiniowania samego zjawiska – jako takiego, ale także w kontekście pracy w ogóle. Kluczowe pytanie, które się pojawia, brzmi: praca jest zjawiskiem szlachetnym i społecznie widocznym, więc jak to jest, że praca przymusowa jest tak mało widoczna dla ludzi, ale także dla organów ścigania? Stawiam tezę, że praca przymusowa, obciążona silnym społecznym tabu, skrywa się za fasadą pracy, jako zjawiska wyjątkowo godnego i szlachetnego. W końcowej części artykułu pojawia się propozycja nowego schematu analitycznego, który pozwoli opisać  zjawisko pracy przymusowej, zupełnie innym językiem niż język wymiaru sprawiedliwości w sprawach karnych, ale przed wszystkim, jako fenomen społeczny.

Keywords

EN

labour; forced labour; new definition of forced labour; combating forced labour; cultural taboo; social communication

PL

praca; praca przymusowa; nowa definicja pracy przymusowej; zwalczanie pracy przymusowej; kulturowe tabu; komunikacja społeczna

• Publisher: Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN / Institute of Legal Studies PAN
• Journal: Archiwum Kryminologii
• Year: 2021
• Issue: XLIII/1
• Pages: 271-294

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Zbigniew Lasocik

• Uniwersytet Warszawski

• https://orcid.org/0000000219211073

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Identifiers

DOI

10.7420/AK2021.05

Biblioteka Nauki

1375714