Were the people who built the pyramids slaves or paid workers?

by drawmeasheep

My basic question is how were the pyramids built? Not in the sense of the logistics of carrying great big stones and whatnot, but rather what kind of society enabled the pharaohs to carry out such labor-intensive projects? Did the people work for incentives or by coercion? How would they have viewed what they were doing? Were they outsiders or fellow citizens? Were they a separate caste of people? What was the hierarchy like? Did people feel like they were working on a spiritual/religious project or was it more mundane?

starfox65

There's an answer to this in the FAQ: the pyramids were not built by slaves but by farmers who would work during the period of the Nile flood, when their fields were underwater. I don't know that they were payed except in food and lodging, it seems more like they were drafted into it.