The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy

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The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy

by Murray Bookchin

3.77 · rating details · 90 ratings · 13 reviews

“The very notion of the domination of nature by man stems from the very real domination of human by human.” With this succinct formulation, Murray Bookchin launches his most ambitious work, The Ecology of Freedom. An engaging and extremely readable book of breathtaking scope, its inspired synthesis of ecology, anthropology and political theory traces our conflicting legaci...more

Paperback, 480 pages

Published July 1st 2005 by AK Press (first published 1982)

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Jul 20, 2007

Javier rated it

Shelves: collegeleisuretime, favorites, anarchism

Besides Edward Said's Orientalism, The Ecology of Freedom is the most exciting and fascinating book I've read in a long time.

Bookchin here promotes his idea of social ecology and his vision of an ecological society (and world). He takes issue with so-called environmentalist movements, which, like the psychotherapist that Herbert Marcuse roundly criticizes, seek merely to have society adapt to the madness of extant structures rather than promote radical change, as social ecology ...moreBesides Edward Said's Orientalism, The Ecology of Freedom is the most exciting and fascinating book I've read in a long time.

Bookchin here promotes his idea of social ecology and his vision of an ecological society (and world). He takes issue with so-called environmentalist movements, which, like the psychotherapist that Herbert Marcuse roundly criticizes, seek merely to have society adapt to the madness of extant structures rather than promote radical change, as social ecology advocates. He also denounces New-Age, biocentric mysticism as feel-goodery that fails to call into question relations of power, hierarchy, and domination and, relatedly, is easily commodified within the capitalist structures that (Bookchin says) it should be subverting and overthrowing.

The core of Bookchin's argument here is the creation of a qualitatively better society, rather than a merely quantitatively better one (something that he criticizes liberals, Marxists, and socialists on). He embarks on a review of anthropological accounts of 'primitive peoples,' who he finds to have lived within a non-hierarchical social nexus that, instead of private property, functioned according to the rights of usufruct (open access to all), an ethics of complementarity (instead of competition), and an irreducible minimum, whereby everyone was afforded the basic necessities of life without reserve. Bookchin denounces Thomas Hobbes' account of human nature here, characterizing it as mere apologism for hierarchy and domination. He also finds much of liberal theory--that which dominates ideology today--to be a natural outgrowth of Hobbesian thought. As with Hobbes, Bookchin finds Sigmund Freud's account of human psychology to be incorrect at best and reactionary at worst, as he attributes human 'evil' to immutable human traits rather than socialization processes shaped by hierarchical, dominant interests.

Positively, Bookchin here posits a return to the values of 'primitive' societies. He finds that only through doing away with hierarchical social relations (capitalism, though more than this of course) can humanity realize its potentiality through affirming the subjectivity of every individual--and, claims Bookchin, the subjectivity of nature--in place of treating people/the environment as mere objects, tools of production, and 'resources.' Bookchin, then, seeks not a less offensive capitalism or a Marxian socialism but a libertarian municipalism, in which everyone can cultivate herself within an authentic, caring, loving social nexus plagued not by hierarchy, Karl Marx's 'realm of necessity,' or the spectre of ecological collapse. Bookchin emphasizes that the project of social ecology must be guided not by the dominant mode--power--but rather by ethics, imagination, and utopianism if it is to defend its advocacy of qualitative change. As in Post-Scarcity Anarchism, Bookchin stresses the need for 'liberatory technologies' that will help to do away with hierarchical modes of social organization and transcend the oppressive and ecocidal impulses of much of our current reality.(less)

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May 14, 2011

Dylan rated it

Shelves: anachronistic-theory-collection

This was a challenge for me to complete, but I'm glad I did. In retrospect, it seems largely composed of long, detailed tangents strung together thematically as historical evidence for Bookchin's ideas about the history of civilization. That's what I mean when I say I found it difficult. In the same way, Mumford's Technics and Human Development became a bog of historical detail. That should probably be attributed more to my preferences than the authors' deficiencies, however.

Bookchin s...moreThis was a challenge for me to complete, but I'm glad I did. In retrospect, it seems largely composed of long, detailed tangents strung together thematically as historical evidence for Bookchin's ideas about the history of civilization. That's what I mean when I say I found it difficult. In the same way, Mumford's Technics and Human Development became a bog of historical detail. That should probably be attributed more to my preferences than the authors' deficiencies, however.

Bookchin sees two currents flowing through our history: one libertarian, one authoritarian. The former, he argues, was the one more characteristic of pre-literate, pre-state societies. The latter, with the upper hand since the rise of the state, has formed a world alien to our ancestors and our true nature:

“Trapped by a false perception of a nature that stands in perpetual opposition to our humanity, we have redefined humanity itself to mean strife as a condition for pacification, control as a condition for consciousness, domination as a condition for freedom, and opposition as a condition for reconciliation.” (365)

These conditions preserve social relations domination and hierarchy, even as "equality" is upheld by the powerful as a fundamental value.

Equality is not typically associated with an authoritarian impulse. But Bookchin's insight is to distinguish between "inequality of equals" (the sense implied in the US Declaration of Independence) and the "equality of unequals." The latter is the truly libertarian equality, in force since the earliest human societies, which the authoritarian political ideologies based on false equivalence that we have inherited (from sources as far back as the Greeks) will never tolerate.

Despite thousands of years of repression, he argues, the libertarian ideal persists. Ecology, then, provides a new mode of expressing these age-old values of "organic society" that may be incorporated into a new society with the added recognition of a universal humanity--the great gift of civilization--beyond mere tribal and national identity, without our self-imposed separation from nature, to the world's ultimate benefit.(less)

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Aug 07, 2009

Alex rated it

Shelves: capitalism, ecology, philosophy, sociology, patriarchy

Murray Bookchin (R.I.P., 2006) was one of the most important American theorists of the 20th century. He is most known for pioneering and promoting 'social ecology,' which holds that "the domination of nature by [hu:]man stems from the domination of human by human." In other words, the only way to resolve the ecological crisis is to create a free and democratic society.

The Ecology of Freedom is one of Bookchin's classic works, in which he not only outlines social ecology, bu...moreMurray Bookchin (R.I.P., 2006) was one of the most important American theorists of the 20th century. He is most known for pioneering and promoting 'social ecology,' which holds that "the domination of nature by [hu:]man stems from the domination of human by human." In other words, the only way to resolve the ecological crisis is to create a free and democratic society.

The Ecology of Freedom is one of Bookchin's classic works, in which he not only outlines social ecology, but exposes hierarchy, "the cultural, traditional and psychological systems of obedience and command", from its emergence in pre-'civilized' patriarchy all the way to capitalism today. The purpose of the book is to show that hierarchy is exclusively a human phenomena, one which has only existed for a relatively short period of time in humanity's 2 million year history. For that reason, and also because he finds examples of people resisting and overturning hierarchies ever since their emergence, Bookchin believes we can create a world based on social equality, direct democracy and ecological sustainability.

It seems to me this fundamental hope in human possibility is the most essential contribution of this book. In discussing healthier forms of life than we currently inhabit, Bookchin makes a distinction between "organic societies", which were pre-literate, hunter-gatherer human communities existing before hierarchy took over, and "ecological society", which he hopes we will create to bring humanity back into balance with nature, but without losing the intellectual and artistic advances of "civilization" (his quote-marks).

Of 'organic society' he says "I use the term to denote a spontaneously formed, noncoercive, and egalitarian society - a 'natural' society in the very definite sense that it emerges from innate human needs for association, interdependence, and care." This, he explains, is where we come from. Not a utopia free of problems, but a real society based on the principle of "unity of diversity," meaning respect for each member of the community, regardless of sex, age, etc. - an arrangement that is free of domination. He also characterizes organic societies as "part of the balance of nature - a forest community or a soil community - in short, a truly ecological community or ecocommunity peculiar to its ecosystem, with an active sense of participation in the overall environment and the cycles of nature."

Things didn't go wrong all at once, or all the sudden. It took eons of slow changes that eroded the solidarity and equality within certain societies before anything as destructive or coercive as the State, with its coercive and violent redistribution of goods, emerged. Along the way, many enclosures upon community life were reversed in whole or part. Nevertheless, a few areas of the world saw things degenerate into militaristic ruling classes coming to power, determined to conquer and destroy. To acquire power for themselves required putting others down, by force if necessary, and taking as much as possible from the planet. These people are still in control, hence our current state of affairs.

The other crucial point made in this book is that the structure of power is really the overriding issue when we think about moving towards an ecological society. Alternative technologies certainly have a role, as do more environmental consciousness, culture, etc. But none of these can do much unless we democratize the way power is distributed in society. Any attempt to "green" capitalism, for example, is futile because the system as such is precisely what is destroying the planet. Remedying this requires empowering people to take control of their lives and surroundings away from those interested only in domination of humans and the Earth. In Bookchin's words, to achieve "harmony with nature", we first need "harmony in society."

The sweep of ideas that compose the doctrine of social ecology are compelling and extremely relevant for us today living in both social and ecological crises. Unfortunately Bookchin, while a great theorist, was a pretty lousy writer. In Ecology of Freedom he approaches subjects like a philosopher, attempting to separate himself from previous thinkers and carve an ideological niche for himself. He also constantly references other philosophers (mostly white dudes), in a way that assumes the reader knows what he is talking about. Most of the time, I didn't.

What Bookchin lacked was the ability to speak to a mass audience, in their own language. He could not take the vast plethora of ideas in his head and synthesize them into a simple and readable program for change. Instead, we're left with incredibly important and relevant ideas caught up in a web of philosophical jargon and sectarian attacks on other radicals. (His schizophrenic relationship with Karl Marx is especially frustrating because he never just comes out and says what he finds essential about Marx and what he finds destructive - we just get tons of side-comments as if he's speaking to Marx while discussing other topics with the reader).

Nevertheless, I gained something from this book by taking Bookchin with a dose of irreverence. He had a lot of good ideas, but like all theorists, he's no one to follow blindly. He was imperfect. Nevertheless, like the best of us he put his limited energies into making this world a better place.(less)

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Apr 30, 2009

Hafidha marked it as to-read

This book is not an easy read, but I'd like to get through some of the chapters, namely: the concept of social ecology, the emergence of hierarchy, epistemologies of rule, legacy of domination, two images of technology, and the ambiguities of freedom.

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Dec 09, 2011

AK Press rated it

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May 31, 2008

James rated it

I know everyone loves this book, but I've tried to read it several times now and I can't make it through because of the thick academic language. The chapters I've read though makes a good argument that a lot of how humans view nature comes from the cultures we come from, like in ants where people think of the Queen Ant as the ruler, when in fact ants act more communally and on instinct rather than through orders or anything like that (the queen produces the babies.)

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Nov 30, 2010

Nicole rated it

i really wanted to like this book. it has some interesting themes and a general ideology i'm down with. but it's actually way too long and the writing style is quite dense. a lot of the material seems somewhat tangential to the overall topic as well (there's a lot of religious history in this book). there are some good points made throughout this book, but i can't say i'd recommend reading it.

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Oct 02, 2008

Chuck rated it

This is the most comprehensive and developed attempt to theorize an anarchist perspective since Kropotkin's Mutual Aid. Although particular chapters or passages may seem dated or problemtic in various ways, its important to stay focused on Bookchin's overall project, which was deeply radical and utopian.

RIP, Murray.

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Feb 04, 2008

Conner H. (AK) rated it

Read him for the provocation, not the conclusions he draws. Bookchin is a great connector of seemingly disparate subjects. He's also a good writer. But ultimately, the book is outdated and ethnocentric, as well as embarrassingly postmodern at times.

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Oct 15, 2008

Josh rated it

It gives a perspective of humanity that is essential for our day to day understanding. Where do we come from? Where are we going? Thanks Murray.

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Nov 16, 2007

Graham rated it

This sits much better with me than deep ecology.

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Jul 13, 2009

Matthew rated it

Two years after starting, I finally finished this! Geez...

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Jan 24, 2009

Thomas rated it

Shelves: nonfiction

Bookchin is like the green Chomsky. Amazing book!

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Urban Crow rated it

Shelves: anarchism, social, ecology, akpress, classic, non-fiction

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