Long after slavery was officially abolished, the practice not only continues but thrives. An estimated 40 million people are modern-day slaves, more than ever before in human history. Whether they are women in electronics or apparel sweatshops, children in brick kilns or on cocoa farms, men trapped in bonded labour working on construction sites, or girls forced into domestic servitude or sex work, millions of people are forced to perform labour through the use of force, intimidation or deceit. Modern slavery is an integral part of the global economy. It even becomes part of our daily lives when we use or buy products that are made through exploitative labour practices. In a world of growing inequality, consumers and business are both part of the problem and the solution. While we have all become accustomed to fast fashion and cheap consumer goods, we must take responsibility for exploitation at different points along complex supply chains. This important book examines slavery in the modern world and outlines ways it can be stopped.

Modern slavery, in the form of labour exploitation, domestic servitude, sexual trafficking, child labour and cannabis farming, is still growing in the UK and industrialised countries, despite the introduction of laws to try to stem it. This hugely topical book, by a team of high-profile activists and expert writers, is the first to critically assess the legislation, using evidence from across the field, and to offer strategies for improvement in policy and practice. It argues that, contrary to its claims to be ‘world-leading’, the Modern Slavery Act is inconsistent, inadequate and punitive; and that the UK government, through its labour market and immigration policies, is actually creating the conditions for slavery to be promoted.

Barney and Clark examine the resource-based view of the firm in a holistic and in-depth manner. They explore the applications of the theory in research, teaching, and practice, its early roots in traditional economic theory, and its development and proliferation in the 1990s.

Over the last decade, the world’s largest corporations – from The Coca Cola Company to Amazon, Apple to Unilever – have taken up the cause of combatting modern slavery. Yet, by most measures, across many sectors and regions, severe labour exploitation continues to soar. Corporate social responsibility is not working. Why? In this landmark book, Genevieve LeBaron lifts the lid on a labour governance regime that is severely flawed and limited. She takes a close-up look at the millions of corporate dollars spent on anti-slavery networks, NGO partnerships, lobbying for new transparency legislation, and investment in social auditing and ethical certification schemes, to show how such efforts serve to bolster corporate growth and legitimacy as well as government reputations, whilst failing to protect the world’s most vulnerable workers. To eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking in global supply chains a new approach is needed; one that confronts corporate power and profits, dismantles exploitative business models, and regulates the booming private industry of accounting firms, social auditors, and consultants that has emerged to ‘monitor’ and ‘enforce’ labour standards. Only worker-driven initiatives that uphold fundamental rights can protect workers in the contemporary global economy and make forced labour a thing of the past.

A public health approach to human trafficking requires a nuanced understanding of its root causes. This textbook applies a historical lens to human trafficking from expert resources for the multidisciplinary public health learner and worker. The book challenges the anti-trafficking paradigm to meaningfully understand historical legacies of present-day root-causes of human trafficking. This textbook focuses on history’s utility in public health. It describes history to contextualize and explain present times, and provides public health lessons in trafficking prevention and intervention. Public health recognizes the importance of multiple systems to solve big problems, so the chapters illustrate how current anti-trafficking efforts in markets and public systems connect with historical policies and data in the United States. Topics explored include: Capitalism, Colonialism, and Imperialism: Roots for Present-Day Trafficking Invisibility, Forced Labor, and Domestic Work Addressing Modern Slavery in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Businesses Immigration, Precarity, and Human Trafficking: Histories and Legacies of Asian American Racial Exclusion in the United States Systemic and Structural Roots of Child Sex Trafficking: The Role of Gender, Race, and Sexual Orientation in Disproportionate Victimization The Complexities of Complex Trauma: An Historical and Contemporary Review of Healing in the Aftermath of Commercialized Violence Historical Context Matters: Health Research, Health Care, and Bodies of Color in the United States Understanding linkages between contemporary manifestations of human trafficking with their respective historical roots offers meaningful insights into the roles of public policies, institutions, cultural beliefs, and socioeconomic norms in commercialized violence. The textbook identifies sustainable solutions to prevent human trafficking and improve the health of the Nation. The Historical Roots of Human Trafficking is essential reading for students of public health, health sciences, criminology, and social sciences; public health professionals; academics; anti-trafficking advocates, policy-makers, taskforces, funders, and organizations; legislators; and governmental agencies and administrators.

Slavery is not a crime confined to the far reaches of history. It is an injustice that continues to entrap twenty-seven million people across the globe. Laura Murphy offers close to forty survivor narratives from Cambodia, Ghana, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mexico, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United States, detailing the horrors of a system that forces people to work without pay and against their will, under the threat of violence, with little or no means of escape. Representing a variety of circumstances in diverse contexts, these survivors are the Frederick Douglasses, Sojourner Truths, and Olaudah Equianos of our time, testifying to the widespread existence of a human rights tragedy and the urgent need to address it. Through storytelling and firsthand testimony, this anthology shapes a twenty-first-century narrative that many believe died with the end of slavery in the Americas. Organized around such issues as the need for work, the punishment of defiance, and the move toward activism, the collection isolates the causes, mechanisms, and responses to slavery that allow the phenomenon to endure. Enhancing scholarship in women's studies, sociology, criminology, law, social work, and literary studies, the text establishes a common trajectory of vulnerability, enslavement, captivity, escape, and recovery, creating an invaluable resource for activists, scholars, legislators, and service providers.

Drawing on fifteen years of work in the antislavery movement, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick examines the systematic oppression of men, women, and children in rural India and asks: How do contemporary slaveholders rationalize the subjugation of other human beings, and how do they respond when their power is threatened? More than a billion dollars have been spent on antislavery efforts, yet the practice persists. Why? Unpacking what slaveholders think about emancipation is critical for scholars and policy makers who want to understand the broader context, especially as seen by the powerful. Insight into those moments when the powerful either double down or back off provides a sobering counterbalance to scholarship on popular struggle. Through frank and unprecedented conversations with slaveholders, Choi-Fitzpatrick reveals the condescending and paternalistic thought processes that blind them. While they understand they are exploiting workers' vulnerabilities, slaveholders also feel they are doing workers a favor, often taking pride in this relationship. And when the victims share this perspective, their emancipation is harder to secure, driving some in the antislavery movement to ask why slaves fear freedom. The answer, Choi-Fitzpatrick convincingly argues, lies in the power relationship. Whether slaveholders recoil at their past behavior or plot a return to power, Choi-Fitzpatrick zeroes in on the relational dynamics of their self-assessment, unpacking what happens next. Incorporating the experiences of such pivotal actors into antislavery research is an immensely important step toward crafting effective antislavery policies and intervention. It also contributes to scholarship on social change, social movements, and the realization of human rights.