This chapter analyses the common distinction in slavery studies between ‘slave societies’ and ‘societies with slaves’. It looks at the various proposals for how to conceptualize these categories, and considers their relative advantages and disadvantages. It shows how a mechanical application of this approach will invariably result in a black-and-white picture, and that this approach fails to take into consideration differing levels of knowledge about ancient societies and their economic underpinnings. Finally, it shows that much research in Near Eastern slavery has been conducted without awareness of these categories, leading to skewed comparisons between the classical and Near Eastern worlds.