At the start of 20th century we left the old idea of Feudalism behind and entered the age of capitalism for good. all of the exploitation the feudal lords did was gone for good and after the age of rapid Industrialisation and then the age of global free trade we have finally stepped foot in the age of information. As we have gone through the change from farming-based society and serfhood to a phase in time called epitome of civilization where we don’t have to work in muddy fields but in well-lit offices. With a screen always in front of us as we look back in time we have actually made a lot of progress, we are the most developed in all the history humans ever were.
Inequality in society and rise of feudalism
But as we have progressed from Feudal era to the post-industrial era, we have gone backward on the terms of wealth distribution. According to the World Inequality Report 2022 the global top 10% earns 52% of the global income while the bottom 50% earns just 8.5% of that, the difference is really huge but compared to global wealth distribution this is nothing. According to World Inequality Report 2022 the bottom 50% owns just 2% of the total global wealth that means on an average $2978 while the top 10% owns 76% of that which calculates to $565000 and middle 40% own 22% only, just for context you should know that the top 1% of them own 43% of all the wealth and assets. These statistics show the brutal reality of this post-modern society where almost all of wealth is held by the powerful and wealthy few while 90% can’t ever afford a home, according to World Economic Forum the top 0.1% on an average have wealth estimated to $14.1 million. The global wealth held by the top 0.1 percent of the global population increased from 7 percent in 1978 to 22 percent in 2012. As the ultra-wealthy amass unimaginable riches, millions find themselves trapped in poverty, this could be the side-effect of global Capitalism.
Return of Serfdom and Oligarchy
As the times are going and the isolation is increasing between “the rich class” and “the poor class” we are eventually heading to what we should call Neo-feudalism. In the medieval feudal times there were authoritarian societal structure in every place where there was a strongly hierarchical order of society. Personal obligations tied subordinates to superiors, and the persistent closed classes or “castes” bound to a permanent serflike status for the vast majority of the population. There a few dominated the many as by natural right and wealth was totally concentrated in the hands of those few, do you see the pattern now? In the second half of the twentieth century, growing prosperity was widely shared in the developed world, with an expanding middle class and an upwardly mobile working class—something seen in many developing countries as well. But today, the benefits of economic growth in most countries are going mainly to the wealthiest segment of the population. we see an oligarchy emerging in supposedly democratic countries, with a neo-feudal aristocratic system. We are talking about the wealth which can buy influence in the government and over the culture.
Corporate slavery and servitude: Myth or Reality
And if we are talking about inequality and feudalism, how can we forget about the concept of “Corporate slavery”. In last few decades there is a great increase in young adults who are living paycheck to paycheck, mental health of the salaried employees is on a very steep decline; overtimes, wage decline, predatory lending, mass layoffs, job insecurity and lifestyle debts; all of these exploitatory practices done by companies of modern times is a slow poison for human society as a whole according to a report 85% of all salarymen feel stuck in their jobs and almost 75% feel exploited by their employer. There are different types and forms of exploitations that happens in workplaces all around the world such as: Economic exploitation, Verbal harassment, Unsafe work conditions, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Violence and Wage exploitations.
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