ABSTRACT
Slavery is a social category that in and of itself does not indicate a mode of production. If the notion of property necessarily implies personal subjection, it would make sense to point to the latter as the most essential characteristic of slavery. Domestic slaves always constituted a special category at the personal service of the owner’s family in both rural and urban residences, whether in Asia, in Ancient Greece and Rome, or in American colonies. Before customs, morals, the law, and philosophy recognized the contradiction and attempted to solve it positively in favor of legitimizing slavery, reconciling the terms thing and person, the slaves themselves externalized their antagonistic condition by reacting to being treated as things. The most essential characteristic of enslaved people is their condition as property of another human being. The high cost of supervision has a structural nature in slave production.
