Customer Reviews

Animal Rights/Human Rights

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David Nibert does a wonderful job of using social theory to explain animal oppression and show the ties of animal oppression to the institution of capitalism. He enhances his topic by showing how the oppression of animals is deeply entangled with the oppression of humans based on ethnicity, gender, and social class. Using a slightly modified version of Donald Noel's theory of ethnic stratification, Nibert clearly maps out his ideas concerning the oppression of non-human animals. He covers all aspects of oppression, ranging from the truths behind flesh consumption to the use of animals in vivosects. His topics then expand to show how the autrocities committed against animals then lead to, and help support, the oppression of humans.
This book is a must for anyone concerned with animal rights AND human rights. Equality will not come from seperate movements fighting for one cause. Coming together, and realizing that the cause being fought for is universal and spans the bridge between humans and animals, is the only way to make progess. David Nibert makes this issue painfully clear.

Whereas a large portion of the scholarship regarding humans' ethical responsibilities towards animals has focused on the roles and morality of the individual - this book takes a sociological perspective in order to express a direct correlation between the systematic exploitation of humans and other animals. It is the same sort of attitudes and social norms which cause humans to promote and sustain oppresive systems towards all subjects of a life, and Nibert's book does an excellent job of chronicling this reality.

While I was familiar with historical episodes of oppression and violence, I never really connected the dots to see how many of these events were related and largely motivated by greed and avarice. I was opposed to cruel treatment of animals, but I did not realize the connections between their treatment and human oppression until reading this book. This book opened my eyes to the structural causes of oppression (and motivated me to become a vegetarian). I highly recommend it.

In this ambitious undertaking, Nibert attempts to demonstrate the entwined fates of humans and animals throughout the history of the western world. In a style that will be well received by fans of Howard Zinn, Nibert uses this historical review to put contemporary oppression in a broader context. Framing this overview in sociological theory, Nibert suggests that the capitalist system and neoliberalist, global development policies and practices bear considerable responsibility for much of the suffering of humans and animals throughout the world today. A very good read for students and progressive activists for all causes.