In the most general sense, to exploit something means to make use of it for some particular end, as in the exploitation of natural resources for social benefit or for private profit. Insofar as this use takes advantage of other people, exploitation also implies something unscrupulous. If the other people are endemically powerless, as in the case of the poor in relation to their landlords, creditors and the like, then the term exploitation takes on the connotation of oppression.