A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things

Patel and Moore argue that the conceptual divide between nature and society is a relatively recent invention, emerging in the 16th century as a strategic response to the crisis of feudalism and the rise of early capitalism. This dualistic worldview, which the authors term the “Cartesian revolution,” not only enabled the cheap appropriation and exploitation of the natural world but also excluded the majority of humans from the category of “Society,” relegating them to the realm of “Nature.” They argue that this binary has become so deeply entrenched in modern thought that it is often taken for granted as a natural and inevitable way of understanding the world.

Patel and Moore assert that the unraveling of the feudal system compelled ruling elites to seek new strategies for maintaining and expanding their wealth and power. Central to these strategies was the concept of “cheap nature”—the idea that nature could be treated as an infinite and expendable resource, external to human society, which could be appropriated and exploited at minimal cost. This cheapening of nature, the authors contend, was made possible by the Cartesian dualism of mind and matter, which posited a fundamental separation between the realm of human thought and agency (society) and the material world of bodies and objects (nature).