Abstract
Exploitation is a commonly used term that is often conflated with coercion, invalid consent, malicious intentions, unfairness, and harm. This article seeks to clarify its various uses and meanings. I argue that exploitation is best understood as a specific type of moral wrongdoing that requires unfairness in the distribution of benefit between the parties to cooperative activity. This broad definition encompasses Marxist concern with exploitive social systems and more modern debates about exploitation in specific transactions such as surrogacy and egg selling. Exploitation can be consensual and in some senses beneficial to the victim, and it does not require harm or malicious intentions. Exploitation is necessarily closely linked to debates about consent and fairness. Some forms of exploitation, such as mutually advantageous exploitation, presuppose views about fair distribution and the possibility of giving valid consent in desperate circumstances.