EMPLOYEE
Responsible for own provision of room and board and care from the product of one’s wages.
FARMER
Holds sufficient land and labor to produce goods not only for consumption but for sale in the market, as personal property.
PEASANT
Holds a small plot of land farmed by the family, for family consumption, as family property (this is an important distinction) – one does not have control over the property – the family does..
SERF
Holds access to a portion of land for family in exchange for a combination of labor on the manor’s holdings, in addition to some percentage of his personal production. And is bound to the land, having little or no right of exit except under certain conditions.
INDENTURED SERVITUDE
Receives room and board, and possible small spending money, in exchange for labor. But loses right of exit.
SLAVE
Bound to the land, manor, and or family, providing room board and clothing, but holds no title or rent, and no discretion.
slavery as we understand it is an historical fabrication. one could be everything from the equivalent of a full-time household employee treated as a cherished member of the family, to a farm hand, to a disposable laborer, to a prisoner with no chance of survival working in the mines.
PRISONER (SLAVE)
terrible conditions which you might not be expected to survive, under hard labor, as a form of punishment.