It is a simple yet potent truth that slavery is a relationship between (at
least) two people. Like other common and patterned relationships in human societies, slavery takes various forms and achieves certain ends. The
ends or outcomes of slavery tend to be more similar across time and cultures, the forms less so. The different outcomes of slavery are exploitative
in nature: appropriation of labor for productive activities resulting in economic gain, use of the enslaved person as an item of conspicuous consumption, sexual use of an enslaved person for pleasure and procreation,
and the savings gained when paid servants or workers are replaced with
unpaid and unfree workers. Any particular slave may fulfill one, several, or
all of these outcomes for the slaveholder.