The word exploitation brings to mind visceral images of sweatshop labor; people working under abysmal conditions for next to no pay making overpriced goods meant for richer markets. Alternatively, we think of women being forced into prostitution. Whatever image comes to mind, in our minds exploitation happens to poor people living in third world countries.
We could not be more wrong. Every single one of us is being exploited on a daily basis. This exploitation is occurring at different levels and with different degrees of sophistication. No one is immune. The exploitation is to such an extent that even the exploiters in one area are themselves being exploited in other areas. We have built our society based on mass exploitation and the beauty of this system is that the vast majority of people are largely unaware of what is going on.
Our exploitation takes on many different forms. Some of it is emotional. Most commercial messages use this form. When we are bombarded by messages showing images of beautiful people and perfect families working and playing in idyllic conditions, in effect we are being manipulated into feeling bad about ourselves and our situation. The idea is to motivate us to buy the product or service being advertised in the (usually vain) hope that by using it, we will somehow become like the people being shown. This emotional exploitation has been honed to a high degree of sophistication. We think that we are immune to the effects of advertising when the reality is that we are not. No matter how cynical we may be, our defenses will eventually be breached in some fashion by the sheer volume of repetition of the messages.
Some forms of exploitation are based on fear. Virtually the entire insurance industry uses this form specifically the fear of what will happen to our loved ones if we were to die suddenly. This form of exploitation is also heavily used by other companies. The threat of being sacked if we were to go against the wishes of the management or if we were to protest our working conditions is hung over our head like the sword of Damocles. This fear is used to tame us into submission. There is also the additional fear of poverty that will befall us if we were to rock the boat.
Sexual exploitation is ofcourse a staple of modern society. Virtually every ad is filled with beautiful women and handsome men in some state of undress. Similarly movies and to a great extent TV also have this form of exploitation. Keep in mind that the exploitation depicted is not just that of the models shown. We are being exploited into viewing women (and men) essentially as objects and not as humans. When a woman or a man wears tight clothing, are they not the victims of sexual exploitation? Nor is this exploitation restricted to adults only. Children are not exempt. Beauty contests for little children is a form of exploitation that is done by the willing connivance of parents who have essentially been brainwashed into thinking there is no harm in the activity.
No matter where we are or who we are, we are both manipulators and victims. We carry out some form of exploitation often without realizing it and we ourselves are exploited in some fashion again usually without our realizing it.
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