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comment by wasoxygen
wasoxygen  ·  3851 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Why is slavery wrong? (A late answer to b_b's "An interesting question")

Another can o' worms! But we never finished with the last one! What is coercion?

Here is my definition: a person harming someone, or threatening to harm them, to bring about a change in their behavior.

Let's test it:

Mugger with a gun says "your money or your life." The threat of harm causes you to give up your money, which you did not want to do. Coercive.

Slavery. Slaves are kidnapped against their will. Any attempt to escape is suppressed by force. Coercive.

An employee (or intern, or volunteer) performs work for some person, business, or group, according to terms the worker understands and agrees to. The worker can cease working at any time, should a better opportunity appear. Not coercive.

Somebody works very hard yet earns little salary. Sad perhaps, but not coercive.

Conscription. It is not conscription if it is not compulsory, with some threat of punishment for non-compliance. Even if alternative service is offered, if it is not possible to completely opt out without consequence, it is coercive.

Making a child eat vegetables. This is a little murky, not because of any doubt about what coercion is, but because a child is a special case of person who is not yet a completely independent agent. Making an adult eat vegetables (or not consume unhealthy things they want to consume) is clearly coercive.

Taxation. Normally, people pay as little as they are required to, while recognizing a clear threat of punishment for underpayment. Seems coercive to me, but many taxpayers express some level of consent to the arrangement. It might be worth seeing what their revealed preference would be if for some reason they were tax-exempt.

What's your definition?