Audiobook Slavery as an industrial system : Ethnological researches.

The author investigates the foundational causes behind the presence or absence of slavery in human societies, distinguishing it from related phenomena like serfdom, family subjection, and political despotism. Through a comprehensive geographical survey, the study details how different primitive groups—ranging from hunters and fishers to pastoralists and agriculturalists—interact with the institution of compulsory labor.

In the theoretical section, the argument demonstrates that slavery cannot easily take root where subsistence depends upon material resources available in limited quantities, or where land remains freely accessible to all members of a community. Conversely, when resources are closed and all land is fully appropriated, slavery naturally gives way to other forms of labor, such as tenancy or wage labor.

The development of slavery is further shown to be influenced by secondary internal factors such as the social condition of women, the rise of commerce and luxury, and the practice of war. External forces, particularly the slave trade conducted by more advanced civilizations, also play a crucial role in breaking the inertia of primitive societies and facilitating the spread of bondage. Ultimately, the work concludes that labor systems are structurally determined by the fundamental relationship between population size and available material resources.