immiserate
verb/ɪˈmɪzəɹeɪt/
Etymology Back-formation from immiseration.
1
To impoverish (someone); to make someone sink into misery.
- By far the most powerful dynamic conception of capitalism as a system wracked by unavoidable change is the classic Marxian view in which a working class is first immiserated, then disciplined, finally goaded beyond endurance by a system that systematically exploits and deceives it.1971 November 28, Robert L. Heilbroner, “Phase II of the Capitalist System”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- The fun, pleasurable aspect of playbor troubles scholars because it seems to suggest that playborers are not exploited; exploitation is supposed to be immiserating, not fun.2018 January 16, Greg Goldberg, Antisocial Media: Anxious Labor in the Digital Economy, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 51:
2 more examples
- Higher inequality, in part the result of a real estate boom that immiserated some and enriched others, meant more wealth in the hands of the high-saving rich.2020, Thomas Orlik, China: The Bubble that Never Pops, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 76:
- These regimes will favor older people and contain and immiserate the young.2021, Michael Harris, Stay Alive: Surviving Capitalism’s Coming Hunger Games, John Hunt Publishing, →ISBN:
- Related terms
- commiserate, commiseration, immiseration