The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
Humanity is becoming more peaceful, and the proof is all around us, asserts Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. In The Better Angels of Our Nature, he retraces the last few millennia of human history to show a clear evolution across the globe away from violence, war, and exploitation, and toward nonviolence, compassion, and equality.
Armed clashes were endemic millennia ago, Pinker notes, and they typically entailed massive genocides and abuses of the defeated nations’ civilians. Even in peacetime, life was far from kind: Women and children were oppressed, animals were mistreated, and ethnic and religious minorities lived in constant dread of persecution. And slavery, torture, and public executions were routine practices.
But over the last thousand years, concepts of human rights and egalitarianism took root. Today, humanity is far more civil than it was even one century ago, Pinker argues. Rates of violent crime are far lower, and cruelty toward one’s spouse, children, or household pets is no longer tolerated. The same goes for attacks against people of different ethnicities or religions.
Wars are now a rarity, and when they do occur, they are far briefer and claim immensely fewer casualties. Although terrorism, slavery, and other offenses against human life persist, they are no longer socially accepted.
Pinker outlines the forces behind this great shift. Reading, commerce, and democracy all exert humanizing influences. But more fundamentally, societal values have changed. Whereas past societies prized “honor” and the willingness to fight to defend it, above all else, contemporary society has come to recognize life itself as the highest good. He is hopeful that the civility trends will continue.
Many people today assume that human nature does not change. Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature makes a compelling counter-argument, and a scholarly case for hope that better days may truly lie ahead.
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