Slavery and fear.

What makes slavery slavery? Fear of lynching? What about fear of beating? What about fear of losing your children when they are traded away to another plantation?

Are we free of such fears within a capitalist economy? How many people are afraid of getting killed if they live in a poor area, and that motivates them to work hard and make more money to pay for safer housing? How many people fear losing their children to drugs/crime if they get involved with the wrong people?

We say that whites are privileged because they are allowed to work hard and seek better housing in better neighborhoods with less criminality in ways that many blacks are discriminated against; but why should anyone fear crime and/or violence if they don't make and spend more money to live in one area instead of another?

We can say that people aren't slaves today because they are free to quit jobs, seek other jobs, etc. but are we also willing to look at how much people are still motivated by fear?

Is it possible to have an economy based purely on doing what you believe in and only what you believe in, and not doing whatever it takes to make the money that protects you from things you fear? Is it possible for people to live in any area, however affordable, and still feel as safe and secure raising a family there than in a more expensive neighborhood?

And what does it take to eliminate these causes of fear, such as crime in poor areas but also those other fears that motivate people to exploit others economically in business, such as the fear rich people have of losing their property and privileges when the economy goes into recession? In order for people to avoid fearing loss, don't they have to take on less debt and burden to begin with? And what about the fear of not being able to afford adequate health care if you don't have insurance? These are all fears that motivate us to work for the money and privileges we can only get by working for an employer/corporation, but why are we only critical of those pre-modern feudal fear-mongers, such as the lynch-mob or the whip-cracker?