AIM Framework glossary
Exploitation
Canonical definition
Exploitation is extracting disproportionate benefit from someone specifically because their A-precarity, I-suppression, or M-vulnerability prevents them from exercising I-led choice, whether those vulnerabilities are created, maintained, or merely used opportunistically.
Explanation
What makes a deal exploitative is not only that terms are bad, but that the “bargain” works precisely because the other party is hungry, has no real alternative, or is hypersensitive to shame and status, so that they cannot afford to refuse. In justice terms, exploitation is structurally unjust because it profits from states of unfreedom that a decent system would work to cure, A-floors, I-infrastructure, and M-bounding are the primary anti-exploitation tools.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct (normative).