MANUNKIND: Determinants and Dynamics of Collaborative Exploitation

Introduction

Chattel slavery and other forms of collaborative exploitation have been present since ancient times, inflicting unfathomable suffering on countless generations of victims. Even though slavery is outlawed globally today, its modern-day successors continue to cause severe harm for millions.

Research Gap

Previous research has compiled rich datasets on the prevalence of collaborative exploitation across cultures and time. However, a startling gap exists in the literature regarding the modeling of the fundamental incentive structures of collaborative exploitation and the understanding of the psychological processes involved.

Micro-Level vs. Macro-Level Understanding

As a result, we do not have a clear understanding of how the macro-level patterns and dynamics observable in the existing data emerge from micro-level traits, decisions, and behavior.

Research Proposal Objectives

Addressing this knowledge gap, this research proposal:

1. Analyzes collaborative exploitation as a strategic interaction between exploiters and the exploited.
2. Scrutinizes the psychological mechanisms and traits involved in exploitative interactions.
3. Traces how the aggregation of these micro-level components into macro-level patterns and dynamics is shaped by, and interacts with, the ecological, economic, and ideological conditions in which it is situated.

Methodology

In doing so, I will develop, test, and disseminate a versatile game-theoretic framework and corresponding new paradigms for behavioral experiments to advance the multidisciplinary study of collaborative exploitation.

Innovative Approach

Being the first to apply rigorous formal modeling and transparent preregistered tests of theory-grounded hypotheses against experimental and archive data to understand collaborative exploitation, this proposal advances into uncharted territory.

Impact

Thus, it breaks new ground for research in several disciplines and at multiple levels of analysis. Moreover, its results can inform policy-making aimed at ending modern-day slavery and other contemporary forms of exploitation, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 8.