Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows
An Introduction to Carnism
A social psychologist asks why we love some animals and eat others, and names the belief system behind the difference.
Why do people cherish some animals and eat others? Social psychologist Melanie Joy calls the belief system behind that split carnism, a term she coined in 2001 and popularized with this 2009 book. She argues that eating meat is presented as natural, normal and necessary, and that the choice of which species count as food is cultural: dogs are eaten by some people in Korea but kept as pets in the West, while cows are eaten in the West but protected in much of India.
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Ezra Klein
Over the past few years, I've become convinced that the way we treat animals is a signal moral horror of our age. But then why is it so easy to ignore? Why do so many of us ignore it? This book is about how we think about how we treat animals, and it's a powerful lesson in how dominant ideologies protect and hide themselves in all areas of life.
Article · January 2020
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