Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism: The Belief System That Enables Us to Eat Some Animals and Not Others

by Joy, Melanie, Ph.D.

• ISBN13: 9781573244619
• ISBN10: 1573244619
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-11-01
• Publisher: RED WHEEL/WEISER
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

In her groundbreaking new book, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, Melanie Joy explores the invisible system that shapes our perception of the meat we eat, so that we love some animals and eat others without knowing why. She calls this system carnism. Carnism is the belief system, or ideology, that allows us to selectively choose which animals become our meat, and it is sustained by complex psychological and social mechanisms. Like other "isms" (racism, ageism, etc.), carnism is most harmful when it is unrecognized and unacknowledged. Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows names and explains this phenomenon and offers it up for examination. Unlike the many books that explain why we shouldn’t eat meat, Joy’s book explains why we do eat meat -- and thus how we can make more informed choices as citizens and consumers.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. 9
To Love or to Eat?	p. 11
Carnism: "It's Just the Way Things Are"	p. 23
The Way Things Really Are	p. 37
Collateral Damage: The Other Casualties of Carnism	p. 73
The Mythology of Meat: Justifying Carnism	p. 95
Through the Carnistic Looking Glass: Internalized Carnism	p. 115
Bearing Witness: From Carnism to Compassion	p. 135
Resources	p. 151
Notes	p. 151
Bibliography	p. 169
Index	p. 187
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.