Vulnerability & Interdependence

The Relationship Between Vulnerability, Interdependence, and Exploitation

Individuals, communities, and environments all rely on one other for resources, support, and stability, creating an interdependent relationship. However, this interdependence can also lead to vulnerabilities, as certain people and communities are inherently more susceptible to economic, social, and environmental obstacles. Judith Butler, in Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, uses the relationship between employer and employee, describing how, “if a laborer depends on an employer by whom he or she is exploited, then that laborer’s dependency appears to be equivalent to his or her capacity to be exploited. One might resolve that one has to do away with all dependency since the social form that dependency assumes is exploitation” (209). As a result of that interdependency between employee and employer, the employee is more susceptible to exploitation. 

 Immigrants are particularly vulnerable to workplace interdependency, as many lack wealth, higher education, secure housing, and stable jobs, all of which are advantageous to build new lives. This makes them extremely liable to labor exploitation and abuse. Débora Betrisey describes how the workshops “keep their employees, mainly Bolivian and Paraguayan immigrants, under deplorable work conditions, with poor hygienic and security conditions, scant or nonexistent wages, prolonged debt, and subjection to extreme surveillance and control” (63). Extreme labor exploitation and abuse is displayed within these workshops, creating a greater need for stability among the workers. Betrisey claims that both the workers’ transportation and housing are paid off by the owner of the workshop, solidifying that dependency the workshop would rely on to keep its laborers. Consequently, the workers find stability within the basic needs the owner provides, allowing the employers to push the workers for cheap, exploitable labor under the veiled threat of tearing that stability away. This forges a power imbalance that grants the owner the ability to take advantage of the workers by forcing long days in subpar conditions, holding their immigration documents as additional leverage against them.  

Interdependence is a natural phenomenon; it occurs in every facet of life as everything, including humans, are interconnected. There is an innate reliance people harbor for one another and their environment for survival, as is the natural way. It is not natural, however, for this interdependence and the vulnerability it provides to be weaponized against a group of marginalized individuals. The immigrants in those workshops, spread throughout Bolivia and Paraguay, are not participants in a symbiotic, natural relationship with the owners of those workshops. The benefit of the bare necessities provided to them by their ‘employer’ is overshadowed by the sheer inhumanity of the situation; work or waste. It is a vulnerability entirely different from the natural norm, an interdependency that creates more danger for one party than the other.  

The Relationship Between Vulnerability, Interdependence, and Social Inequalities

Social inequality emerges from power structures that exploit vulnerability and interdependence, perpetuating systemic hierarchies. These structures position marginalized communities in relationships of forced reliance on oppressive institutions, thereby deepening their susceptibility to harm. The criminal justice system exemplifies this dynamic, as it disproportionately targets low-income Black communities, weaponizing vulnerability to reinforce inequity. Butler’s analysis underscores this process, arguing that vulnerability is not merely a psychological state but a political tool: “The issue of my or your vulnerability implicates us in a broader political problem of equality and inequality, since vulnerability can be projected and denied… but also exploited and manipulated… in the course of producing and naturalizing forms of social inequality” (210). Here, Butler highlights how systemic power manipulates vulnerability to legitimize disparities—a process illustrated in the experiences of Black mothers navigating systems focused on punishment. 

Sinikka Elliott and Megan Reid’s study reveals how the criminal justice system infiltrates the lives of low-income Black children and their mothers, pushing them into parenting strategies shaped by institutional surveillance. The authors explain, “Findings demonstrate that poor Black mothers calibrate their parenting strategies not only to fears that their children will be criminalized… but also to concerns that they themselves will be criminalized as bad mothers… We develop the concept of ‘family criminalization’ to explain the connection of Black mothers’ and children’s vulnerability to institutional surveillance and punishment” (197). This “family criminalization” reflects a cycle of interdependence, where mothers and children become trapped in a system that demands their reliance on state structures, but also punishes them for existing within its confines. For example, mothers feel pressured to parent in ways that focus on avoiding punishment from authorities, even if it means sacrificing their ability to care for their children’s emotional well-being. These harms tear families apart and leave scars that affect future generations. 

By disproportionately targeting marginalized groups, the criminal justice system establishes social inequalities through a feedback loop. When people are vulnerable, they’re forced to rely on the same harmful systems, and their interdependence, the mutual reliance communities need to survive, keeps marginalized groups in endless cycles of being watched and punished. 

Vulnerability and Interdependence Role in Social Movements

Social Movements play a significant role in shaping our notion of vulnerability and interdependence. Social Movements are created by marginal groups to help society become more ‘livable.’ Society depends on interdependence, even the neoliberal economic establishment. Humans are social creatures, and we thrive when we are interdependent on one another. As shown by the Black Lives Matter Movement, African Americans, who are a historically oppressed minority gathered in protest of societal oppression. “Black Lives Matter imagines a world where Black people across the diaspora thrive, experience joy, and are not defined by their struggles” they state ((BLM Home - Black Lives matter 1)). Social Movements are also fluid entities which transcend time periods and individual leaders. What sparked the mass BLM protests in 2020 was the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer. But the movement itself has its roots in the Civil Rights Movement. Often people believe in an idealized version of history which shows that all the issues surrounding race relations were solved when Segregation was prohibited or when the Civil Rights Act was signed in 1964. People are often uncomfortable with confronting their own roles in societal tensions. An example is that many still believe in the American Dream, despite it not being attainable for a vast portion of society. It is precisely because there are these cultural myths that many of these tensions between the majority and minority groups exist. Movements like BLM serve to remind society of the ongoing struggles of minority populations, which counters the mainstream narrative of a problem free society.   Often these struggles are due to structural barriers, which prevents certain groups from reaching their full potential. Thus, what Butler is proposing is to try and change the structure of society to make it more “livable". As a society, people must recognize the struggles of others and not cling to an idealized version of society.  Butler posits that “even the utterance of a name can come as the most extraordinary form of recognition, especially when one has become nameless or when one’s name has been replaced by a number, or when one is not addressed at all” ( 203). This shows that recognition is a powerful first step in reconciling with a certain outgroup in society. But it is not enough, it takes far more effort to upend the systematic barriers that many minorities face.