An Unnatural Order: Uncovering the Roots of Our Domination of Nature and Each Other [Paperback]

Jim Mason (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826410286 | ISBN-13: 978-0826410283 | Publication Date: May 1997

Mason--attorney, journalist, and coauthor of Animal Factories--examines how our nature-alienated culture deprives us of kinship with the rest of the natural world, stifles empathy, and destroys our sense of continuity with other living things. Index.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Coauthor with Peter Singer of Animal Factories , the classic expose of the cruelty of mechanized animal farming and slaughter, Mason here writes an eloquent, important plea for a total rethinking of our relationship to the animal world. He analyzes the West's "dominionist" worldview which exalts humans as overlords and owners of other life, an outlook that he believes is rooted in millennia of animal husbandry. Speculating that dominionism arose with the transition from ancient mother-goddess religions to patriarchy, he ambitiously links our current exploitation and domination of nature to fears of our own animal nature, repressive antisexual attitudes, misogyny, curtailment of women's power, racism and colonialism. Human brains and thought processes evolved through close contact with animals, Mason argues, and restoring our kinship with animals is central to bridging the rift between humanity and nature. His powerfully argued manifesto will change many readers' attitudes toward hamburgers, animal experimentation, hunting and circuses.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is one of a number of recent books that trace both environmental destruction and social oppression to the Western world view that sets humankind outside of, above, and in conflict with nature. What makes this work unique is the emphasis he places on the relationship between human beings and other animals as both explaining and symbolizing our dysfunctional way of life with its built-in patriarchy, misogyny, and racism. "Dominionism" justifies merciless exploitation of the earth and its creatures for human wealth and pleasure, but it has left a deep psychic wound. In pursuing his argument Mason (coauthor with Peter Singer of Animal Factories , LJ 6/1/80) piles up powerful and provocative examples and insights. He is less successful in convincing the reader of the sufficiency of his overall thesis. Recommended for libraries with patron interest in animal rights, feminism, or environmental ethics.
- Joan S. Elbers, formerly with Montgomery Coll., Rock ville, MD
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826410286
• ISBN-13: 978-0826410283
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,365,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

BIOGRAPHY

Jim Mason is an author and attorney who focuses on human/animal concerns. His latest book, co-authored with ethicist Peter Singer, is The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter (Rodale Press, 2006). The authors trace the foods eaten by three American families back to their sources and explore the ethical questions that arise along the way. The book discusses factory farming and alternatives, fair trade, buying local, organic farming, commercial fishing, and other food matters of concern to consumers today.

His book, An Unnatural Order: The Roots of Our Destruction of Nature (Lantern Books, 2005), looks at the historical and cultural roots of the Western belief in God-given dominion over the living world. In enslaving animals for war and farming, he says, agrarian society broke the ancient bonds and sense of kinship with them. This makes for an alienated, nature-hating culture, Mason argues. It fouls our relations with nature--especially animals, whom we need, he says, "as companions, as exercisers of human empathy and nurturing, as feeders and informers of the psyche, and as kin and continuum with the rest of the living world."

Mason is best known for his 1980 (and 1990 revised edition) book, Animal Factories, written with philosopher, Peter Singer. The book examined America's brave new world of factory farming in which crowded, drugged animals mass-produce cheap meat, milk and eggs. In the process, Mason and Singer say, animal factories also mass-produce environmental pollution and threats to human health while they destroy independent, diversified farming.

Jim Mason's writings have appeared in a wide variety of publications. He is a contributor to In Defence of Animals (Blackwell's, 2005), edited by Peter Singer. His magazine article, "A Plague of Gypsy Moths" was chosen for the book, Cases for Composition (2nd edition; Little, Brown, 1984). His articles have appeared in The New York Times, New Scientist, Newsday, Country Journal, Orion Nature Quarterly, and other publications. His 1993 story in Audubon about the growing trade in exotic pets was nominated for the National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting. The article sparked national interest and was chosen for the anthology, Preserving Wildlife: An International Perspective (Prometheus Books, 2000).

In addition to writing, Jim Mason speaks about animals, nature and the environment at conferences, churches, and universities. He has appeared on NBC's Today, CBS This Morning, NPR's All Things Considered, CNN, Midday Live, and other radio and television programs in major cities. His books have been reviewed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, In These Times, The Chicago Sun Times, and The Atlanta Constitution..

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A roadmap for the 21st Century, August 25, 2000

By 

Colleen E Holland (Santa Cruz, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Unnatural Order: Uncovering the Roots of Our Domination of Nature and Each Other (Paperback)

In 1892, Henry Salt published the book Animals' Rights. While it was not totally ignored, it took nearly another century for the modern "Animal Rights" movement to begin, after the appearance of Peter Singer's Animal Liberation in 1975.

When reading An Unnatural Order it will be difficult to not get the impression that Jim Mason is a visionary, on par with Henry Salt. We are privileged to have Mason as a contemporary. Years from now people could easily look back on him as the spark that helped reverse the course of destruction humans were on at the end of the 20th Century. Unfortunately, as with the ideas in it-and like Salt's work-An Unnatural Order has been largely ignored. Like a great movie that no one has seen, the fault for this must lay with lack of promotion. This review is appearing several years after the book's publication. This is unfortunate. An Unnatural Order is an important book.

"This book is written in hope and celebration. My hope is that we have the strength to rid ourselves of the destructive strands in Western culture," Mason begins. These destructive strands manifest themselves in the "Nature Question." Grossly simplified, the Nature Question is the intellectual belief that somewhere in our evolutionary past our ancestors broke their bonds with the living earth and put Homo sapiens above all other life on the planet, resulting in our species having no sense of kinship with other life nor any sense of belonging. The earth is beneath us; we are alienated from nature.

Mason continues "It is now time to bring this question into popular discussion, and I hope this book is a start." The roots of our alienation are deep-and deeply explored. Thirty pages are devoted to identifying dominionism. A picture of the world before agriculture-the seed of dominionism-is painted. Using current research and extensive references, a vivid portrait results that is as believable as any anthropologist's.

An all-things-are-connected web is spun, touching animal-human history and relationships; the crossover to agriculture; misogyny and misothery (the author's invention for "an attitude of hatred and contempt for animals and nature"); racism, colonialism, and dominionism. The breadth of his discussion is extensive and not every reader will agree with all of Mason's personal viewpoints. It irrelevant. In the long run one will feel certain that the book hits the mark of verity.

The final chapter brings it all together and offers Mason's broad outline for what needs to be done to turn dominionism around. He shows how the awareness of our social and environmental problems is widely known, citing the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, quoting political leaders and scholars, and referencing a who's who list of environmental writers, who he concludes all have the same message: "Humanity needs fundamental changes in its relationship with nature."

Supplying the missing piece, Mason states: "All having laid down such strong rhetoric, however, the movers and shakers, with rare exceptions, stop dead in their tracks when they approach the Animal Question. The Animal Question is regarded as illegitimate, silly, peripheral." To address the Animal Question reduces ones credibility. Driving home the point, Mason ponders how Christopher Stone's landmark 1972 article "Should Trees Have Standing?" would have been received had he written "Should Chimpanzees Have Standing?" He concludes that the Animal Question "is the very heart" of the Nature Question. The two cannot be separated. In order to make any progress toward healing our dominionist worldview, this gap must be bridged.

In the last few years some headway seems to have been made in this area. For too long the wedge that existed between "animal" and "environmental" groups has done all harm and no good. Since An Unnatural Order's publicatiom, there has been a call for unity as well as a more serious acceptance of the "Animal Question." Peter Singer's 1993 book and continued efforts with The Great Ape Project; the publication of When Elephants Weep by Jeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy; and E magazine, which, beginning with its September/October 1995 issue, published a three-part series "to promote a dialogue between these two disparate communities," are just a few. Hopefully this is the start of serious progress.

In 1993, Jim Mason's An Unnatural Order appeared. While not totally ignored, there may never be a "modern dominionism" movement. If the message in his book is even remotely accurate, our culture cannot wait 80 years for some as-yet-unborn author to rediscover An Unnatural Order's message.

Joseph Connelly

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book on animal/human relations, January 22, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Unnatural Order: Uncovering the Roots of Our Domination of Nature and Each Other (Paperback)

Joe Gaziano from Chicago, Illinois , November 24, 1998 An excellent book that explains human/animal relations Unnatural Order establishes Jim Mason as one of the important intellectuals of the Animal Rights Movement. Mason provides a thoughtful and readable analysis of the relationship of people to animals throughout history. In this book Mason demonstrates how the changes in animal/people relationships have, over time, dramatically altered human existence. In much of the early history of humanity people lived in harmony with animals. Nature was viewed as containing fellow creatures with many of the same characteristics as people. Animals were revered and respeced. The move to an agricultural society where increasing numbers of animals became food resulted in a shift of consciousness. The culture became one in which humans were seen as dominant over and superior to animals. Humans increasingly separated themselves from nature and the animals, often denying their own animal nature. The result is a human culture divorced from nature and suffering from all the ill effects that such a society produces. Mason's book should be read by every vegetarian and animal rights advocate. It is sure to be a classic in the field.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must read' for anyone who cares about nature and animals, August 22, 2000

By 

don lutz - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Unnatural Order: Uncovering the Roots of Our Domination of Nature and Each Other (Paperback)

Why are we the most violent and destructive species on this planet? In "An Unnatural Order", Jim Mason tells us. He opens with a clarification of the philosophy of 'dominionism' as expounded in most religions, and declares it as the principle at the root of human violence and warfare. He presents the case that there was a time when humans got along rather well with each other and the rest of nature. It was the time of the forager, mistakenly called the time of the hunter/gatherer by those looking through the filter of western philosophy and religion. For many thousands of years, Homo sapiens did not do much meat-eating or hunting, until widespread, organized hunting appears some 20,000 years ago. When foragers became hunters, and hunters became herdsmen, their view of nature changed from one of provider to one of enemy, and the notion of human supremacy was born. The non human animals, once seen as ancestors, neighbors, teachers and kin, began to be thought of as inferior, dangerous and evil, or simply commodities. With the advent of agriculture, and especially animal agriculture, ideas about a hierarchy of being, ownership of property, patriarchy, domination and exploitation begin to take over human culture. The idea of a male god, with man just below, and women, 'primitive' people and the other animals, below men, became the mindset of the "northern tribes." It was eventually sanctified by western religions and remains the dominant worldview today. Mason takes us on a journey through human history, unfettered by human ego, thoroughly explaining our dissociation from nature and animals, and the resulting losses, both pyschologically and spiritually. He probes deep, and finds the origins of warfare, racism, sexism, religionism and colonialism. He challenges the idea that agriculture was a great human achievement, arguing that it gave us repeating cycles of increased production and growth only at the expense of the environment and the animals that we enslaved. The result has not been success for all humans, but actually an increase in human starvation and suffering, caused by the human population explosion and the misuse of resources. Enslavement of non humans and then humans, followed by the introduction of organized warfare, are the results of the hunter / herder mentality that replaced the original cooperative, egalitarian nature of human culture. Mason, does not simply chronicle our mistakes, he seeks out causes, and offers solutions. He does not blame farmers for the disasters of agriculture, nor does he call for an end to religion. Instead he calls for a new approach to farming, and the return to the family farm, by the re-introduction of sustainable, humane farming methods. Likewise, he calls for a re-discovery of the suppressed voices of progressive theologians who have spoken out against dominionism for centuries. He asks us to re-evaluate our ideas of human supremacy and accept our proper role as a part of nature, not something above it. His approach is unique among most writers -- the preservationists, environmentalists or even the deep ecologists -- as he dares to ask "the animal question." When will we admit to the psychological lives of the other animals, and take this into consideration in our dealings with them? Do they exist just for us? Or are they part of our family, deserving every bit as much consideration as those of "our own kind."