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Wage slavery is a term used to describe a situation where a person's livelihood depends on wages or a salary, especially when the wages are low and person has few realistic chances of upward mobility.[1][2]
The term is used to criticize exploitation of labour and social stratification, with the former seen primarily as unequal bargaining power between labour and capital (particularly when workers are paid comparatively low wages, e.g. in sweatshops or in the gig economy)[3] and the latter as a lack of workers' self-management, fulfilling job choices and leisure in an economy.[4][5][6]
The criticism of social stratification covers a wider range of employment choices bound by the pressures of a hierarchical society to perform otherwise unfulfilling work that deprives humans of their "species essence"[7] not only under threat of starvation or poverty, but also of social stigma and status diminution.[8][9][4] Historically, socialists and activists have advocated for the socialization of the productive forces of society to reduce the alienation of the worker.[5][10]