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

by Jim Mason

An exploration of the basic beliefs and traditions of Western culture that have propagated racism, sexism, animal cruelty, and other forms of subjugation discusses how our nature-alienated culture oppresses nature and powerless people.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, History, Vegan, Environment, Anthropology, Philosophy

319 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Keith Akers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting and provocative book worth careful study. Its basic thesis is that humans are naturally sympathetic to animals. Animals are prominent in mind formation (e. g. p. 93 to 104), children are naturally sympathetic to animals and identify with them, and animals are prominent (in a sympathetic way) in human thought. Yet obviously today we are slaughtering animals by the billions and this fact defines our whole relationship with animals --- indeed, our relationship with all of nature and with each other. This is deeper than just an immoral or impractical system; it is an unnatural order.

From there Mason spins out an entire theory about both the origins and implications of this unnatural order. Our relationships with animals spills over into all of our relationships with the outside world. In order to justify and rationalize this order, humans have developed a "dominionist" ideology, exemplified by the Bible's declaration (Genesis 1:26) that humans have dominion over everything on the planet. This is not simply a Christian or Jewish invention; the same attitude is found in all cultures and religions and even in secular and political views.

Domination over plants is exemplified in the development of agriculture, which ripped up the earth in order to feed humans, and resembles the varieties of human oppression of other humans as well. Agriculture requires certain power relationships, so relationships to humans have been distorted from the beginning of agriculture to the present day. The domination of other humans parallels the domination of livestock animals. Pornography and female genital mutilation follow the same patterns set up in our unnatural relationship to animals --- circuses, rodeos, even the breeding of "pets."

I liked this book and agree with its overall thesis. A minor complaint is that the book has no index and no footnotes. The lack of footnotes isn't quite as bad as it sounds because he always gives the names of people and books he's getting his ideas from in the text, and there's an extensive bibliography at the end, so it's not impossible to track down references. The lack of an index makes it difficult to find things again unless you take careful notes as you read.

The most significant problem with the book is Mason's account of the origins of this "dominionist" ideology. He traces it to the development of agriculture over 10,000 years ago. Mason evidently buys into the idea of the "noble savage." For Mason, primitive human societies were peaceful and egalitarian, subsisting mostly on plants. They were hunter-gatherers, but practiced more gathering than hunting. True hunting did not start until 20,000 years ago, and things went rapidly downhill with the development of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. Violence to animals and violence to humans developed in parallel.

Mason first published his book in 1993 (with no major revisions in subsequent printings). His ideas reflect a lot of then-current ideas about the evolution of human culture. Riane Eisler had published The Chalice and the Blade in 1987, and many people developed ideas about an original matriarchal, peaceful, non-hierarchical society which was overtaken by a patriarchal, male-dominated societies. It would then be an easy step to identify the patriarchal societies with the development of hunting and livestock agriculture.

Unfortunately, this theory has run afoul of more recent developments. Human brutality both towards other humans and towards animals is much earlier than the development of agriculture. Steven Pinker in The Better Angels of Our Nature argues that primitive, pre-agricultural societies were much more violent even than our own, today. Not everyone buys all of Pinker's assertions, but there is widespread agreement that contemporary societies are much, much less violent than primitive societies were. In addition, hunting is also much more ancient than just 20,000 years ago; humans were hunting animals to extinction 100,000 years ago, and our human ancestors (homo habilis and home erectus) were hunting animals even earlier than that, albeit not quite as effectively. Moreover, how can we equate plant food agriculture with livestock agriculture? Without plant food agriculture, there's no possible way we could feed even 10% of our current human population.

Mason's basic idea is on track; violence to animals and violence to humans did develop in parallel (see e. g. Constant Battles by Steven LeBlanc). We just need to backdate this parallel development further than 10,000 years ago. I doubt that Mason has the energy to revise his book, 25 years after it first appeared, but I have no doubt that it could be done and am grateful to him for having first raised these issues.

[Leanne Clydesdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an insightful book, that blew my mind at so many parts! I've had a 'kinship' mindset for many years of my life now, but I still love having my understanding the world deconstructed and reconstructed. The connections that this book makes and the use of language to explain them have already begun to make things easier for me to discuss with others and understand myself.

Firstly, I now have so many words and definitions I did not know before. Mason contextualises dominionism and the origins and forms of this in such a descriptive and challenging way, it's hard to question and deny it's negative impacts on our world - not that I was trying to. He gifts us with a word that I didn't know I needed, Misothery, which I now use on a daily basis. The hatred and contempt for animals. This term, along with speciesism, I believe legitimatises our cause. It recognises it's importance and impact in upholding oppressive structures for a society which daren't identify with its animal cousins and nature. It allows us to make valuable connections between Misothery and other 'isms' that prove that they support one another, and by destroying the dominionism worldview - oppression of other humans will be reduced as part of that process.

I was blown away by the ancient connections between our dominion of animals and the beginnings of the patriarchy and, more contemporary connections to colonialism. While the plant based diet being part of the feminist movement was not news to me, understanding it's origins of how agriculture both took and takes lives of animals in an industrious manner, and takes from nature, exploited mothers and diminished women's role in society helps me to see why. The idea that views on women and animals may correlate somehow is both shocking and so unexpectedly obvious!! In addition, the use of dominionism to reduce, what Mason terms, "the Others" (essentially anyone non-white, non-European who fell victim to colonialism) to the equivalence of animals, who were deemed as beastly and stupid (which is a well-known racist approach), makes deeper connections when it is illustrated in this context.

Mason provided all the information needed to simply strive to become a better person from reading this book and enacting his proposal. He calls us all out for the dominionist undertones in our lives and encourages us to question them. He calls us out for avoiding the animal question when looking to be better for the planet. He calls out the plague of ritual and tradition in upholding dominionist views without real justification. The model of kinship, rather than dominionism and stewardship, is the best proposal I have read about. This way of life can be so easily implemented into individuals lives and protested about to governments. He makes it easy to discuss without removing an ounce of truth in it. It reassured me that I am doing my very best and that I can talk to people about the future of kinship with the living world. It also just sounds better!

To finish, in his acknowledgements, he writes of his wife "She helps me cope with the awareness of human dominion's terrible damage to the living world." This hit home, and reminded me the importance of community when trying to bring change the way Mason is. It reminded me of the people around me who are so supportive of my thoughts and let me ramble on for hours about animals. And to know that this man's empathy for the world, while brings him torment, has brought him to reach people with this book - with the support of his wife - is truly inspirational and empowering.

I can't wait to read more books by Jim Mason, and thankful to Lantern Publishing for bringing him back to update this fascinating book.

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

An impressive attempt to trace the beginning of all exploitation of the earth, women, animals and what the author calls "the Other" back to the transition from foraging to agriculture, particularly livestock agriculture. Mason is thorough and pretty convincing, although I question what other alternative was possible: how could increasing numbers of people be fed without agriculture? Foraging could only work when human numbers remained quite small.

Also, Mason seems to have been caught up somewhat in the "noble savage" idea, which we now know is a myth. Members of primitive (what Mason calls "primal") societies faced a high risk of a violent death, at least according to Stephen Pinker's research in The Better Angels of Our Nature. I appreciated Mason's repeated comments of sympathy for the exploitation of women and slaves down through the centuries. Citations from other authors could have been better documented. (I read the 1993 edition; maybe this was improved in later editions?)

But who really wants to live like a prehistoric forager? We wouldn't want to give up central heating, modern medicine, easily obtainable food, convenient transportation, manufactured goods, and particularly writing and precise language which makes all these transactions possible. Our great task, as I see it, is to reduce our resource consumption substantially while still maintaining a reasonable quality of life. Making voluntary choices to go vegan, reduce family size, improve building insulation and limit air travel, use water wisely and transition to renewable energy sources would go a long way. I believe it can be done, if we have the necessary commitment and determination.

[Jeffrey Spitz Cohan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is hard for me to dislike a book that posits the important and well-supported idea that the oppression of animals is the root of all oppression.

But while slogging through "An Unnatural Order," I found myself writing "that's b.s." far too often.

Jim Mason is a likeable guy and his book does offer a few interesting insights and ideas.

But "Unnatural" is disorganized, repetitive, unfocused, and, in some places, ridiculous.

Mason tries to achieve an academic tone without going to the trouble of doing solid research or even providing footnotes.

This is especially problematic in his insipid commentary on the Judeo-Christian tradition. He treats as fact the usual anti-religion canards one hears in the animal-rights world. Then he takes it a step further and takes several gratuitous potshots at religion throughout the book, sometimes in the form of snide comments.

In so doing, Mason contributes to the unfortunate estrangement between the animal-rights movement and religious communities.

If you're interested in reading a book about the relationship between the oppression of animals and the oppression of people, you'd be better served reading Charles Patterson's "Eternal Treblinka" or Carol Adams' "Sexual Politics of Meat."

[Zsuzsanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

History of our connection to the animal world. I've used this book as a history guide as well.

[David Agranoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this too long ago to write a valid review, but this is fantastic groundbreaking environmental book everyone should read. changed my life.

[Matteo Negro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Osservate il mondo che vi circonda, scrutate i rapporti tra l'uomo e le altre forme di vita e scoprirete che la dominazione e lo sfruttamento sono gli atteggiamenti più diffusi che permeano ogni aspetto della nostra vita sociale. Ma è sempre stato così? Dove e quando è avvenuta questa frattura con il mondo naturale? Jim Mason in questo eccezionale saggio ci accompagna in un viaggio a ritroso nel tempo alla ricerca delle radici di tutto ciò. Diversi autori hanno sottolineato e provato in modo estremamente convincente come il passaggio all'agricoltura, avvenuto circa 10.000 anni fa, comportò un radicale cambiamento nella storia dell'uomo. Certamente il surplus alimentare determinò un'incredibile evoluzione culturale ma il prezzo che il nostro pianeta pagò fu elevatissimo. Prima della scoperta dell'agricoltura la nostra specie era dedita principalmente alla raccolta di frutti e semi prodotti da numerose piante mentre il consumo di carne era decisamente modesto e limitato perlopiù a carogne. L'uomo scrutava i cicli della vita poiché dalla loro comprensione dipendeva la sua stessa sopravvivenza; ogni organismo vivente a quel tempo aveva una dimensione mistica che veniva onorata e venerata. L'avvento dell'agricoltura e dell'allevamento comportò il controllo della natura al fine di soddisfare le nostre necessità. Questo passaggio richiese l'iniezione nella cultura occidentale di una gran mole di idee negative sulla natura necessarie per giustificare lo sfruttamento della stessa. Mason ha coniato il termine "Misothery" per raggruppare tutti questi atteggiamenti e concetti che avevano e hanno come unico scopo quello di demistificare la natura. Ancora oggi possiamo notare come nella maggior parte delle religioni e delle ideologie politiche la cultura della dominazione sia diffusa e capillare. Dominazione dell'uomo sulla natura che ha portato, nel corso della storia, alla dominazione dell'uomo sulla donna e infine alla dominazione dell'uomo sull'uomo con tutte le note forme di razzismo e xenofobia. Oggigiorno di fronte ai problemi ecologici globali urge una nuova etica che abbia come obiettivo quello di ricomporre la frattura creata con il resto del mondo dei viventi. Lo spirito di fratellanza esteso oltre la nostra specie è la sola via per salvare il nostro pianeta e di conseguenza noi stessi. Questo saggio è in grado di dare al lettore una nuova chiave di lettura per meglio comprendere il mondo che ci circonda. Assolutamente da leggere!

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives a poignant account and perspective on how humans came to think of themselves as superior all-deserving "stewards" of the land. Lots of historical insights. Very educational.

[Nancy S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always wondered how humans could veer so off the course of our natural, herbivorous, peaceful selves and find ourselves in the crisis' we're now in. By the way, the latest, updated and abridged edition came out only months ago and is available as a paperback, e-book and audio."An Unnatural Order" by Jim Mason was one of the MOST illuminating books i've read to date. i found myself turning the pages asking "and then what happened?" The language is clear and reads like a novel. With meticulous research, including of anthropological findings from before human civilization and the printed word, Mason has pieced together what to me makes more sense than any other explanation. He is a brilliant thinker, deducing from the evidence what may have sparked the "unnatural order" that has followed us till today. The idea of the centrality of animals in the lives of early humans and our development over perhaps 8-10 million years is novel as is the shocking twist in that relationship when we started hunting, then herding, which in turn caused a rift in male female relations and brought about the mindset of domination over "the other." With colorful and clear writing, Mason lays out how the jagged, broken, violent foundations upon which early and current civilizations (can we call it that?) were formed. This gave me an expanded perception, as though a crack in the wall of my understanding allowed in a brilliant light. I'd call this a must read for anyone who wants to see a paradigm shift and has a suspicion that knowing our history, our "roots," can hold the key. Buckle your seatbelt, dear reader, cause Kansas is going bye-bye. ❤️

[Hope Ferdowsian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent historical account of the origins of dominionism. Incredibly intriguing, with profound implications for how we could effectively address racism, sexism, and speciesism. Surprisingly optimistic.

[Dina]

will be writing notes and reflections at http://freeganbook.blogspot.com/