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The dissertation deals with the transplantation of seventeenth-century English labour forms and systems to Virginia and their transformation in the colonial environment. It is based on the socio-anthropological concept of culture and makes use of an inter-disciplinary approach. Although basically historical, the study uses techniques, concepts and results of other social sciences. An attempt is made at demonstrating that in the specific conditions of Virginia, the transplanted English labour patterns were quickly transformed to restrict the freedom of the labouring colonists. The initial discussion of agricultural labourers' position in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England stresses the relatively unfree state of servants in husbandry, apprenticeships, and those working under poor laws schemes. The cultural context for their unfree condition is reconstructed by reference to class divisions, changes in economic behaviour, the Protestant attitude to work, and the statutory treatment of the poor and vagrant. In early Virginia the institution of indentured servitude quickly dominated other systems of labour recruitment and supply. Traditional attitudes towards dependent servants, recruitment and purchase techniques, severe work conditions on tobacco plantations, and constant labour shortage led to excessive exploitation of indentured servants by extending their terms and by preventing their personal and economic freedom. Eager recognition by law and custom made prolonged unfreedom of labourers culturally acceptable. The introduction of blacks to Virginia speeded up the switch to a labour system based on the ultimate restriction of freedom. The acceptance of Negro chattel slavery was facilitated by persisting English ethnic, racial, and religious prejudice, by the experience with American Indians, and by the economic advantages of slave labour. Thus, slavery was an outcome of a process of cultural change which took place when certain persisting traits of English culture started operating in an entirely new context.