Formal freedom to refuse work is meaningless without resources to survive refusal

Evidence

In a free labor market, of course, the longshoreman or seaman was free to accept the shipowner’s offer or leave it; in practical terms, standing alone, without resources, living on the edge of subsistence, the longshoreman or seaman was powerless to resist. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 306

Categorization

• XREF: Directly feeds the reader’s privilege critique — Odell herself concedes refusal requires margin. — connects to: Rules without enforcement mechanisms are meaningless. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 143; An idea is worthless without power to compel its adoption — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 614
• SEED: A piece contrasting the myth of ‘just quit your job’ with how forced labor/employment law treats the freedom to refuse.
• DEEPTHINKING: This passage is doing crucial anti-naive-reading work: refusal is only meaningful when you have the resources to sustain non-compliance.