Work for others owning the means of production or starve is not a fact of nature.

In what type of society do I not have to do that? Even if I live in a society where everything is collectively owned, I’m still forced to work for the collective (of which I have one share among the population, essentially giving me about as much control as a “vote”)

I meant "consenting" to a wage contract when the other option is to starve.

Many social democracies almost provide an option where you don't have to participate in capitalism with universal healthcare, government welfare etc.

I think the fact that people can pick and choose which contracts to engage in, can back out at any time, and in many cases if you live in a rich country, opt out altogether. Even if there are "pressures" (either socially induced or biological) to work in some form, "consent" seems like a perfectly reasonable word to describe modern conditions.

Like, do we really, truly believe the current world is no different from the feudal past? Is that not hasty reductionism?

I believe it is different.