Category: Essays

How Veganism is and Always Should Be: A Critique of a Practice-based Definition of Veganism

Corey Wrenn, PhDLeave a comment

 

By Nathan Poirier

In 2021, political scientist Jan Dutkiewicz and religious studies scholar Jonathan Dickstein wrote an article titled The ‘Ism’ In Veganism: The Case for a Minimal Practice-based Definition arguing that veganism should be restricted to refer to one’s personal habits only. I cited this article in my own article in the second issue of the Student Journal of Vegan Sociology (Poirier, 2023) but only in passing voiced my opposition to it. This post extends that sentiment by pondering this in relation to vegan sociology. As a sociologist, I find such a stripped-down definition of veganism unacceptable on many fronts. 

The assertion that veganism be applied to personal practice only is perhaps most fundamentally problematic due to who wrote the article. Dutkiewicz and Dickstein are both white male academics. While not necessarily problematic in itself, it is when one considers that many vegans of color consistently insist that veganism is much more than a diet, part of a lifestyle that extends to decolonisation, anti-racism, being pro-LGBT+, among other things. My favorite sources for such information are the edited books by Julia Feliz [Brueck] (Feliz Brueck, 2017; Feliz Brueck, 2019; Feliz Brueck and McNeill, 2020). In light of these viewpoints, a direct and self-proclaimed “minimal” definition of veganism becomes highly suspicious. This article was also published after quite a few sources on veganism of color had been published. Considering the number of definitions and takes on veganism Dutkiewicz and Dickstein cover in their article, there is no excuse for shunning these voices. 

In sociology, the positionality of a speaker matters, and the positionalities of those whose voices are being silenced matter too. Dutkiewicz and Dickstein write from privileged positions in addition to their hegemonic identities: both are research professors, jobs that come with cushy benefits, high salaries, considerable time off, and social prestige. Marginalising the already marginalised is not a difficult thing to do when one occupies such a socioeconomic position. But it is bad form, especially from a vegan sociology perspective. 

Anyone who studies veganism knows that the term has always been about more than personal lifestyle choices. Veganism can impact one’s political orientation, relationships and sexuality, consumption behaviors, activism, and much more. Veganism is about not exploiting others. In some sense, it is that simple. By the same token, it is also that complicated. It is not easy to recognise that all oppressions are connected as this is intentionally kept hidden by “the powers that be” and to take the steps to try to resist them altogether through consistent anti-oppression. One has a lot to lose socially in doing so, especially white males. 

Dutkiewicz and Dickstein do not argue for replacing the political and radical thrust of veganism with anything else that might get at the interconnection of oppressions. This is not of particular concern to them. What have they got to lose by reducing the radical thrust of veganism? In fact, taking a conservative stance within academia is typically rewarded. By removing something like activism or wider social awareness from veganism, the authors play it safe and protect their institutional statuses and jobs. 

I haven’t seen anyone make a direct and public critique of this article. Admittedly I was hesitant to write this because it calls attention to what I consider to be an erroneous, racist, and hurtful argument. But I do think veganism must be defended in its radical glory. A minimal practice-based definition made by two white people just seems a little too similar to white people calling for an end of teaching critical race theory (Kaepernick et al., 2023) or movements in animal advocacy spaces towards racist effective altruism. Vegan sociologists should stand behind a consistent anti-oppression definition of veganism and make it clear that a minimal practice-based definition is incorrect. No one should sit back quietly while two highly privileged people publicly and categorically silence vegans of color. 

 

References

Dutkiewicz, J. and Dickstein, J. (2021) ‘The Ism in veganism: The case for a minimal practice-based definition’, Food Ethics, 6(2), pp. 1-19.

Feliz Brueck, J. (2017) Veganism in an Oppressive World: A Vegans of Color Community Project. Sanctuary Publishers.

Feliz Brueck, J. (2019) Veganism of Color: Decentering Whiteness in Human and Nonhuman Liberation. Sanctuary Publishers. 

Feliz Brueck, J. and McNeill, Z. (2020) Queer and trans voices: Achieving liberation through consistent anti-oppression. Sanctuary Publishers.

Kaepernick, C., Kelley, R. D. G., and Taylor, K. (Eds) (2023) Our history has always been contraband: In defense of Black studies. Haymarket Books.

Poirier, N. (2023) ‘Three Sociological Paradoxes of Eating Animals’, Student Journal for Vegan Sociology, 2, pp. 41-52.

Why Be Vegan? Explaining Frame Effectiveness Through Standpoint in the Vegan Movement

Corey Wrenn, PhDLeave a comment

By Victoria Brockett

While activists offer reasons for potential recruits to see the world through their eyes, why someone would consider becoming vegan is also a question of what social movement scholars call frame resonance (Snow and Benford, 1998).  People need to believe in an issue before joining a movement or changing how they live, and it is the activist’s job to frame or create a coherent picture of problems that warrant attention (Snow, 2004).  Interestingly, a frame can ignite action in some people while squelching the support of others (McCammon, 2022).  However, there is no hard and fast answer as to why frames resonate with some people and not others (Snow et al., 2019).  Which frame resonates for what group remains an open question, and I suggest that social location – particularly race and gender – matter in terms of how a frame is received by a diverse public audience. 

Informed by the framing perspective and feminist standpoint epistemologies, I study the vegan movement and analyse the real-time effects of proffered frames and social location on resonance.  To explain the differential effects of frames, social movement scholars typically credit cultural landscape or frame qualities.  Immersed in a wider cultural landscape, frames are bound by what is imaginable and plausible in a society.  Moreover, frame properties, signalling more moderate or radical stances, for example, can mobilise some audiences while deterring others.  In both instances, be it cultural landscape or frame qualities, the analytical spotlight is typically on activists and their goals (Giorgi, 2017).  This is ironic because frame resonance relies on alignment between activists’ and audiences’ interpretations of an issue, yet understandings of the audience side of this linkage remain underdeveloped. 

Rather than viewing audiences as passive recipients of frames, I rely on feminist standpoint epistemologies to identify mechanisms that may impact how vegan frames resonate with potential recruits.  I operationalise social location to include race and gender as interlocking systems that produce distinct types of experiential social knowledge (Hill Collins, 2009).  To account for differential resonance among a diverse public audience, I ask:  Why and how might frames have different effects on varying groups?  When compared to a moderate frame, are radical frames that call the status quo into question likely to resonate more with some groups when compared to others?  Which frame is most likely to resonate for what group? 

To answer these questions, I rely on novel experimental design in a national survey of 498 participants in the United States.  I compare differences among marginalised and privileged groups based on their receptivity to different vegan frames that are presented as moderate or radical.  Non-vegan survey participants were randomly assigned one vignette inspired by four of the vegan movement’s framing domains: health-centric, anti-speciesist, anti-racist, or environmental (Wrenn, 2019).  All frames urge the public to adopt a vegan diet.  However, like Carrie Freeman’s (2014) findings on framing in the animal rights movement, the more moderate health-centric frame in this study is detached from animal exploitation and focuses on the individual consequences of consuming nonhuman animals and their byproducts.  Alternatively, anti-speciesist, anti-racist, and environmental frames depict animal exploitation from a more radical stance that calls the relationship between society and nonhuman animals into question.  After reading the vignette, participants reported their likelihood of adopting a plant-based diet.

Although results indicate that frame properties (i.e. moderate or radical) and social location (i.e. race and gender) can independently account for resonance, the big story in this study is captured by the interaction between the two.  Through an intersectional analysis, I find distinct patterns by gendered racial categories, particularly across more radical frames that challenge the relationship between human and nonhuman animals (i.e. anti-speciesist, anti-racist, and environmental vs. health-centric).  People who are multiply marginalised, that is Black women, are nearly twice as likely to be swayed by a radical frame when compared to people who are multiply privileged, that is white men.  This suggests the emergence of standpoint or political consciousness when assessing truth claims.

These findings are relevant for activists and analysts alike.  It is important to underscore that people who are multiply marginalised are likely to have a congruent political consciousness that lends to more radical framings when compared to people who are multiply privileged.  This finding is especially relevant in the present moment where mainstream depictions of veganism are often coded as a white and feminine form of lifestyle politics (Greenebaum, 2017; Wrenn, 2016).  As women of colour have already expressed in relation to the vegan movement and beyond, having a unique lens to assess truth claims, oppressed groups remain poised to envision and lead alternate lifeways (Harper, 2010; King, 1988; Ko, 2019; Navarro 2021).  From this vantage, intersecting social locations and broader systemic issues converge around racial/gender inequalities and veganism.  As Silke Roth (2021, p. 1) puts it:

“It is important to understand that all social movements and movement organisations are shaped by multiple axes of privilege and discrimination, which influence who participates in these movements and how, what demands are pursued, and which are neglected, and how the issues of the movements and movement organisations are framed.” 

Vegan movement organisations would benefit from taking the social location of their potential recruits, allies, and leaders into account if they hope to radically transform worldviews through their framing efforts.  My research subsequently foregrounds the opportunities and challenges for researchers and activists concerned with the potential of becoming vegan.

For those interested in learning more, you can view the presentation of initial results at the 2022 International Association of Vegan Sociologists Annual Meeting and access the full paper published in Mobilization An International Quarterly. 

 

References

Freeman, C. P. (2014) Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights. Boston, United States: Brill.

Giorgi, S. (2017) ‘The Mind and Heart of Resonance: The Role of Cognition and Emotions in Frame Effectiveness’, Journal of Management Studies, 54(5), pp. 711–38.

Greenebaum, J. B. (2017) ‘Questioning the Concept of Vegan Privilege: A Commentary’, Humanity & Society, 41(3), pp. 355–72.

Harper, A. B. (2010) Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society. Brooklyn, NY: Lantern Books.

Hill Collins, P. (2009) Black Feminist Thought Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. [2nd ed.]. New York: Routledge.

King, D. K. (1988) ‘Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14(1), pp. 42–72.

Ko, A. (2019) Racism as Zoological Witchcraft: A Guide to Getting Out. Brooklyn, NY: Lantern Books.

McCammon, H. J. (2012) ‘Explaining Frame Variation: More Moderate and Radical Demands for Women’s Citizenship in the U.S. Women’s Jury Movements’, Social Problems, 59(1), pp. 43–69.

Navarro, M. C. (2021) ‘Radical Recipe: Veganism as Anti-Racism’, in The Routledge Handbook of Vegan Studies, (ed. Wright, L.). Routledge.

Roth, S. (2021) ‘Intersectionality and Coalitions in Social Movement Research – A Survey and Outlook’, Sociology Compass, 15(7), pp. 1–16.

Snow, D. A. (2004) ‘Framing Processes, Ideology, and Discursive Fields’, in The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, (eds. Snow, D. A, Soule, S. A, and Kriesi, H.). Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 380-412.

Snow, D. A. and Benford, R. D.(198) ‘Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilisation’, International Social Movement Research, 1(1), pp. 197–217.

Snow, D. A., Soule, S. A., Kriesi, H. and McCammon, H. J. (2019) ‘The Framing Perspective on Social Movements: Its Conceptual Roots and Architecture’, in The Wiley Blackwell companion to social movements, Wiley Blackwell companions to sociology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Wrenn, C. L. (2016) ‘An Analysis of Diversity in Nonhuman Animal Rights Media’, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 29(2), pp. 143–65.

Wrenn, C. L. (2019) ‘The Vegan Society and Social Movement Professionalisation, 1944–2017’, Food and Foodways, 27(3), pp. 190–210.

The Anti-Anthropocentric Capacity of Mainstream Vegan Discourse

Corey Wrenn, PhDLeave a comment

 

By Louis Arthur Gough

 

Introduction

Anthropocentrism – the normative (in Westernised societies, at least) notion that the human animal is in fact transcendent of animality and superior to the rest of existence, specifically the professed ‘archetypal’ human subject (white, cis-male, heterosexual, neuro-typical, able-bodied, property-owning, etcetera) – constitutes a foundational delusion undergirding interconnected human to nonhuman animal, intra-human, and environmental oppressions and exploitations. Thus, as worded by Crist and Kopnina (2014), ‘[q]uestioning anthropocentrism… is a fertile way of shifting the focus of attention away from the problem symptoms of our time… to the investigation of root causes’ (pp. 387-388).

This questioning – or better yet, repudiating – of anthropocentrism is, I believe, veganism’s most crucial capacity. It goes without saying, however, that not all manifestations of veganism exhibit this capacity. In a recent study (Gough, 2023) published in Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism, I conducted a critical discourse analysis of three leading (for better or worse) vegan advocacy organisations with the aim of appraising their anti-anthropocentric vigour. Given the inextricability of nonhuman and intra-human oppressions, and the requisite need to decentre the ‘archetypal’ human, the intersectional aptitude of said discourse was also scrutinised. As expected, the results – a selection of which I outline below – were mixed.

 

Anti-Anthropocentric Discourse

Much of the organisations’ output challenged the anthropocentric status quo. ‘Human narcissism’ – defined by Calarco (2014) as an ‘incessant attention to and rotation around exclusively human existence’ (p. 416) – was undermined by endorsements of veganism that centred nonhuman animals, nonhuman individuality, nonhuman interests, (potentially) beyond-human relationships, and nonhuman self-ownership in defiance of the egomaniacal fantasy that other animals’ bodies and secretions exist for human benefit.

The illusory human/animal dichotomy was also subverted. On occasion, the organisations refused the speciesist conventions of the English language, extended typically human-centric indefinite pronouns to include, for example, our nonhuman ‘neighbors’; whilst anthropocentrism’s moral hierarchy was undercut, most obviously, by a direct contrasting of the human pleasure and nonhuman suffering resulting from the production of so-called ‘animal products’. This latter effort, I argue, both foregrounds the ‘absent referent’ (Adams, 2015) and discredits human interest in the exploitation of nonhumans.

 

Anthropocentric Discourse

The reinforcement of these same expressions of anthropocentrism was, frustratingly, evident too. Whether through a health, human-oriented environmental, or self-absorbed ethical lens, the notion that we ought to stop exploiting other animals primarily for our own benefit sustained the narcissistic centring of human interests. As did the overshadowing of the direct victims of ‘animal products’ in favour of more ‘attractive’ – from a human perspective, of course – species impacted indirectly by mass nonhuman animal (ab)use. Also of note was the organisations’ deification of ‘compassionate’ vegan practitioners, out ‘saving’ the lives of myriad ‘voiceless’ nonhuman beings, which perpetuates what Lilia Trenkova (qtd. in Brueck & McNeill, 2020) calls a ‘toxic human savior complex’ (p. 315); and an emphasis on the apparent ‘human-likeness’ of victimised nonhuman animals, which plays into the very criteria underpinning much historic and ongoing oppression (human and nonhuman) in the first place.

Moreover, regular references to ‘humans’ and ‘animals’ amounted to missed opportunities to reject the insidious human/animal dichotomy, whilst the associated moral inequalities of anthropocentrism were left unchallenged by the organisations’ human-directed scales of moral urgency between cases of exploitation – whether based on the conditions of said exploitation, such as factory versus ‘family’ farming, or the perceived ‘intelligence’ of the oppressed nonhuman beings in question.

 

Intersectional Awareness & Incompetence

As with above, intersectional aptitude was inconsistent. Oftentimes, the organisations exhibited intersectional awareness by presenting nonhuman animal rights as a component – rather than the final component – of social justice. In this connection, attention was drawn to overlaps between human and nonhuman injustices, such as the ransacking of ecosystems and indigenous communities to support Western demand for ‘animal products’, and egregious worker exploitation within slaughterhouses.

On the other hand, uncritical representations of veganism as ‘easy’ overlooked the experiences of the economically and locationally restricted, whilst celebrations of ‘vegan cappuccinos’ exalted frivolous consumerism and in turn dampened veganism’s radical propensity. Intersectional potential was further blunted by the discriminatory and colonial character of specific demonisations of non-Western practices and – perhaps most frustratingly given the amount of criticism this strategy has received – comparisons between nonhuman and human oppressions which, by exploiting the latter in an attempt to underscore the former, do little to challenge either of them.

 

Conclusion

Persuaded by the Foucauldian position that discourse dictates the perceived respectability – and even intelligibility – of ideas and behaviours, this study treats discourse as inherently ideological, playing a fundamental role in the formation and perpetuation of social conventions. This includes the exploitation and consumption of nonhuman life. ‘Changing culture is centrally a matter of changing language’, Fairclough once stated (2000, p. 122), thus our fight against the interconnected oppressions of anthropocentric culture must – in significant part, at least – take place on the level of language. As Nguyen (2019) persuasively contends, ‘we cannot eradicate speciesism if we continue to tolerate it in the very words we speak’ (p. 121). An offshoot of a much larger analysis I am conducting as part of my PhD, this study endeavours to contribute to the rejection of anthropocentrism contained in rhetoric concerning a practice that is indispensable to our moving beyond the arrogant and delusion destruction of human supremacy: veganism.

 

Read the full article here in Relations: Beyond Anthropocentrism.

 

References

Adams, C. J., 2010. The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory. Twentieth Anniversary ed. New York: Continuum.

Brueck, J. F. & McNeill, Z., 2020. Queer and Trans Voices: Achieving Liberation Through Consistent Anti-Oppression. [s.l.]: Sanctuary Publishers.

Calarco, M., 2014. Being Toward Meat: Anthropocentrism, Indistinction, and Veganism. Dialectical Anthropology, 38(4), pp. 415-429.

Crist, E. & Kopnina, H., 2014. Unsettling Anthropocentrism. Dialectical Anthropology, 38(4), pp. 387-396.

Fairclough, N., 2000. New Labour, New Language?. London: Routledge.

Gough, L. A., 2023. Veganism’s Anti-Anthropocentric Capacity: A Critical Analysis of the Advocacy Discourse of Three Prominent Vegan Organisations. Relations. Beyond Anthropocentrism, 11(1), pp. 9-28.

Nguyen, H., 2019. Tongue Tied: Breaking the Language Barrier to Animal Liberation. New York: Lantern Books

What Sociology Can Tell Us about Empathy for Animals

Corey Wrenn, PhDLeave a comment
Photo Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD
University of Kent

Empathy for Animals is a Core Human Value

Humans across the globe share their homes with dogs, cats, rodents, and other animals. We call them companions, pets, or even family members. Thousands of pounds are invested in these animals with regard to food, treats, toys, clothing, kennels, healthcare, and even birthdays and funeral services. Clearly humans deeply care about other animals. At our core, we have empathy for animals other than ourselves.

Exploitative Economies Distort Our Empathy for Animals

So why do so many humans stop short of extending this compassion to animals categorized as food, clothing, or labour? Sociology offers a variety of explanations according to theoretical perspectives. Many sociologists, however, point to the economic structure of a society and the commodification of nonhuman animals. David Nibert has argued that our switch to a hunting economy not only created a society newly structured around the oppression of animals (speciesism) but it also created a society divided by gender. The transition to agriculture entrenched speciesism further with the advent of domestication. This also introduced class division since agriculture allowed for surplus goods (and unequal distribution).

By the late 1500s, early capitalism and colonial expansion spread and deepened speciesism across the globe (and, in doing so, introduced racial division as well). Today, in late-stage capitalism, speciesism (animal agriculture in particular) is more intensive than ever. It is rapidly normalizing in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and other previously colonized spaces as a result of Western coercion. These are regions where plant-based consumption was once normative. The loss of traditional foodways is not only harmful for nonhuman animals identified as “food,” but the global poor identified as their consumers. Social stratification, in other words, is rooted in the adoption of speciesism as a primary economy both past and present.

Distorted Empathy for Animals Includes Humans, Too

Notice how human oppression codeveloped with animal oppression. This intersectionality is key to the sociological understanding of speciesism. Species, race, class, gender, and other social categories are economically functional. They ensure that unpleasant jobs will be filled and that labour may be exploited for low cost (or for none at all). These categories also represent social difference and tend to facilitate conflict and discourage cooperation. For sociologists, this tendency is politically relevant. A divided society, after all, is more easily manipulated by the dominant class in support of its own interests.

The most fundamental social division is that between humans and other animals. It is this animalization which separates those who are marginalized from those who are centered in society with regard to social recognition and allocation of resources. Women are animalized, people of color are animalized, humans with disabilities are animalized, homosexual people are animalized, ethnic minorities are animalized, and non-binary and trans humans are animalized. Even nonhuman animals themselves are animalized.

This is because “animal” is a social category imbrued with symbolic meaning. Just like race really has more to do with power, prestige, and access to resources than it does with one’s actual skin color, species is also not so much about one’s biological makeup (i.e. if one has hands or hooves, skin or scales). All groups, whether human or nonhuman, that are labeled “animal” are described as physically and cognitively inferior to the dominant class and can be denied rights accordingly.

Unteaching Empathy

True, nonhuman and human animals are indeed biologically different. But there are many more commonalities between the two groups. Why do we emphasize difference over sameness? I have described a society that is fundamentally in conflict. In order to maintain such a volatile system, powerful ideologies must be introduced and enforced through institutions and socialization. Psychologists point to a variety of cognitive and emotional mechanisms for managing the discomfort humans feel when faced with contradictions in their empathy toward other animals. Sociologists, however, are interested in how our empathy for some animals and our lack of empathy for others is learned (or, more accurately, is taught).

We are taught by our parents that some animals are for petting, some animals are for admiring, some are pests we should kill, and others are food we should eat. Doctors (who generally lack nutritional training) teach us that eating animals and drinking nonhuman breastmilk is good for us. We are taught by our teachers, museums, and zoos that nonhuman animals are ours to exploit. Mainstream media (which long since converged in the 1990s under the ownership of a handful of powerful billionaires) programs us that animals are objects and our using them is good for the economy. We’re being taught these lessons from childhood throughout our life course.

Reclaiming Empathy

Fortunately, if speciesism is something that is learned, that means it is something which can be unlearned. Sociologists are also interested in how social change happens and how social justice can be achieved in a society that is fundamentally unequal. Although the system may be rigged against us (and nonhuman animals), individuals can resist the erosion of our empathy by choosing food, clothing, and entertainment which does not harm other animals. Individuals can also work to create a more inclusive, peaceful world by getting active in our communities and putting pressure on policy-makers. It is possible to reclaim our empathy for animals.

 

COVID-19, Animals, and Us: Human Supremacy as an Environmental Pathology

Corey Wrenn, PhDLeave a comment
Photo credit: Jo-Ann McArthur, Captive

Originally published in ASA Footnotes , vol. 48 no. 3. pp. 16-17.

Corey Wrenn, University of Kent
Loredana Loy, Cornell University;
Bonnie Berry, Social Problems Research Group

Founded at the turn of the 21st century, our section has long been committed to unpacking the complex web of relationships that exist between humans and other animals. As COVID-19 can be traced to exposure to animals used for food (likely in wet markets or piggeries), our subfield is perhaps ideally positioned to offer critical insight.

Zoonotic diseases, like other natural disasters, have amplified in number and severity with the intensification of animal agriculture. Industrial production and consumption  of animal products has entailed astonishing levels of environmental damage. One consequence is the increased contact between humans and other animals living in undeveloped spaces. The disruption to human communities created by the Western expansion of land-hungry “meat” and dairy has created widespread food insecurity, forcing many to rely on “bushmeat” to survive (Cawthorn and Hoffman 2015).

Harm is also imposed on communities where animal-based industrial operations reside and to the workers for these operations (who overwhelmingly originate in marginalized communities). As of this writing, several meat processing plants have reported outbreaks of COVID-19 (Almeida and Del Giudivice 2020), while Smithfield’s meat processing plant in South Dakota is host to the largest clustered outbreak in the U.S. (Lee 2020). The corporation has blamed the outbreak on “the living circumstances” and culture of its (mostly Latinx) workforce (Samaha 2020). Slaughterhouses are one of the country’s most dangerous industries, with or without a pandemic.

Likewise, the racialized narrative of Asian wet markets which dominates the COVID-19 origin story also avoids the root of the issue. Animal agriculture itself breeds pathogens (and has reduced the efficacy of antibiotics) as a matter of course. Although the scale and intensity of factory farming can exacerbate the development of disease, even smallscale family operations can produce global killers. This was the case of the 1918 influenza pandemic which began on a small Kansas farm. A farmer contracted the virus from his ducks only to unknowingly release it through the trenches of WWI soon after he enlisted (Humphreys 2018).

Despite these compelling links, research finds that the risk that animal agriculture poses to public health and environmental sustainability is largely dismissed, if acknowledged at all (Bristow and Fitzgerald 2011). Although this may seem irrational, it is not especially surprising. David Nibert (2003), one of our section’s founders, argues that economically driven speciesism has been fundamental to the manufacture and maintenance of human societies the world over, and rarely (if ever) sustainably so. Perhaps it is the mundane ubiquitousness of animals to social design that lends to their invisibility in mainstream sociological analysis.

Fundamental to our subdiscipline is the notion that humanity’s relationships with other animals are socially constructed. Sociology has challenged the notion that gender, race, and class are somehow biologically-based; and we apply this logic to the manufacture of species and nature. As humans, we are taught how to interact with one another, other animals, and our environments. The animal existing as “other” helps us to define what it is to be human (Irvine 2004). Put succinctly, the animal as other becomes a useful symbolic category for the purposes of rationalizing and legitimizing systemic exploitation.

As COVID-19 and hundreds of other zoonotic diseases have demonstrated, humanity’s oppressive relationship with other animals is not only dangerous for non-humans, but for humans as well (particularly marginalized groups). The toxicity of anthropocentric social structures must be tackled head-on in order to curb the lethal consequences to humans, other animals, and ecosystems. The task is formidable, but as the global response to COVID-19 has indicated, big change can happen fast when there is the impetus to do so.

Neo-colonial practices that serve to spread Western dietary practices, entrench developing regions in animal agriculture, and fan food insecurity, must be challenged. Much of the non-Western world has traditionally relied on plant-based consumption, a diet that has been gradually undermined by Western capitalist expansion. The heavy subsidization of animal agriculture and other animal-based industries shape economic landscapes, consumption patterns, and health (Allen 2011, Robison and Mulvany 2019, Simon 2013). Governmental bodies will need to cease subsidizing these industries and begin transitioning farmers toward truly sustainable, plant-based production. Such efforts are already taking shape and should be supported (Splitter 2020).

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all that sociology holds dear, from major social institutions to the most minor of social interactions. As such, sociologists cannot afford to continue ignoring and devaluing the nonhuman factor in human social life. We must begin to include non-humans in our research, not just as variables, but as sentient beings who, like ourselves, have a stake in our society’s present and future. Furthermore, the institutional and organizational dimensions of animal-based industries (as well as efforts to resist or reform them) deserve scholarly attention. It is our hope that sociology will take heed and expand its imagination to include other animals.

The Sociological Perspectives on Other Animals

Corey Wrenn, PhDLeave a comment

 

Originally published on Everyday Sociology, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Millions of Americans share their homes with dogs, cats, and goldfish. Have you ever considered what their role in human society might be? What about the spider in your bathtub? Are the members of other species persons, pets, or pests?

In the field of sociology, there are various ways of viewing society. Sociologists ascribe to one or more of these perspectives and this affiliation guides their understanding of social processes. For the most part, the social world of study is restricted to humanity. A growing body of research, however, argues that Nonhuman Animals play an important role in human interactions and have certainly shaped our environment. Several sociologists have recognized that the oppression of other animals tends to mirror and even aggravate the oppression of vulnerable human groups. Still, others have argued that, regardless of the impact on humans, Nonhuman Animals deserve consideration in their own right.

The three perspectives highlighted here–functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionalist–are fundamental to sociological theory and are helpful in organizing our discourse in Nonhuman Animal rights. Nonhuman Animal rights advocates seek to liberate other animals and end speciesism (the systematic oppression of sentient beings based on their species). Sociological perspectives are relevant to combating speciesism by uncovering the manifestation of Nonhuman Animal oppression in human society. None of these perspectives stand independently, but they influence and react to one another.

Functionalism

The functionalist perspective sees society as a stable ongoing entity. This perspective presumes that social phenomena exist because they are essential to maintain a stable society. In cases where social phenomena are thought to be problematic and detrimental to social institutions, it is expected that society will recognize and respond accordingly. In their view, society is always seeking equilibrium and smooth-functioning.

From this perspective, speciesism might be seen as beneficial to society. Nonhumans are thought to be invaluable in providing food, labor, companionship, entertainment, and scientific advancement. In particular, speciesism might be seen as integral to our current economic system. Certainly, we see this argument in countermovement claims in response to Nonhuman Animal rights mobilization (scientists and “meat” packers, for example). Functionalism often reflects traditional values and fails to see problematic inequalities and injustices. While society is dominated by this perspective, it thus leaves itself vulnerable to critique.

The Nonhuman Animal rights movement is divided between two major factions: Those who seek to reform Nonhuman Animal use (what theorists have referred to as “welfarism”) and those who seek to end Nonhuman Animal use (often labeled “abolitionists”). We can see how the functionalist Cowperspective lingers in welfarist ideology. Welfarists reject the radical social restructuring that is so essential to abolitionism. Instead, mainstream Nonhuman Animal rights (which includes groups like PETA and the Humane Society of the United States) seeks to adjust animal use to “remedy” outstanding problems and restore the system to equilibrium. This largely manifests in legislation and welfare reform like the ban on highly confining gestation crates for sows in the “pork” industry.

Abolitionists, on the other hand, call for a complete abandonment of these speciesist institutions that challenge social stability. Abolitionists might also ascribe to functionalism if they take the perspective that speciesism represents a dysfunction and must be removed to ensure society’s durability. Indeed, the moral inconsistencies, violence, health problems, and environmental destruction associated with speciesism would represent social dysfunction.
Conflict

Conflict theorists see society as made up of many groups in conflict and in competition for scarce resources. The conflict perspective recognizes that significant inequalities exist and they are reinforced by power differentials and privileges. There is often the assumption that this inequality and oppression should be challenged in favor of an egalitarian society.

Understandably, this perspective is heavily adopted by the Nonhuman Animal rights movement. Most recognize that Nonhumans exist in a state of terrible exploitation and drastic social change is needed to eradicate that inequality. Abolitionists in particular recognize that speciesism is a critical issue that reflects human-animal dominance over nonhumans. Speciesism upholds humanness as the norm and protects human power and privilege. Nonhumans are reduced to resources and are exploited at the benefit of human society.

Symbolic Interactionalist

Symbolic interactionalists are interested in the creation of meaning and symbols. As such, they focus on every day, routine interactions among groups and individuals that are generally taken for granted or understood as “common sense.” This perspective highlights the social construction of sociological phenomena such as race, gender, and class. While much of society is socially constructed, however, it is recognized that meanings are real in their consequences. Reality is subjective, rather than objective, and is created through interactions.

In application to speciesism, symbolic interactionalists would recognize that species is a social construct. Nonhumans are symbolically created as the “other.” What is “human” and what is “animal” is an arbitrary, subjective categorization. Accordingly, this perspective also explores the power of language to reinforce oppression and inequality. In addition to the negative consequences associated with labeling Nonhumans as “animals,” we see the power of derogatory language in upholding that otherness, fostering stereotypes, and justifying domination in words and insults like “beast,” “rat,” “scaredy-cat,” “chicken,” “cow,” “whale,” “pig,” and so on. Speciesism becomes invisible—it becomes a taken for granted reality. The interactionalist approach would also take a critical look at the role of media in creating and maintaining the symbolic representation of Nonhumans. For instance, other animals are routinely portrayed as willing participants in their exploitation. Or, more commonly, they are presented as mere objects: flesh, skin, or pets. As a powerful agent of socialization, the media normalizes our use of nonhuman animals through these speciesist portrayals.

Intersections between the Perspectives

While theorists and activists might ascribe to one particular sociological perspective, it is not realistic to engage one without recognizing the influence of the others. Indeed, there is a substantial overlap between the three. That said, in our advocacy, it is important to consider how speciesism contributes functionally (or dysfunctionally) to society, how it represents inherent societal conflict and inequality, and how it is supported (and how it might be challenged) through social constructions of meaning that varies by culture and over time.
 

Is Sociology Ready to Take Animals Seriously Now?

Corey Wrenn, PhD1 Comment

Originally published on Everyday Society, British Sociological Association; photo by Jo-Anne McArthur.

Since it began to gather momentum at the turn of the 21st century, the sociological study of animals and society has struggled for legitimacy. Although some sociology programs are beginning to provide courses on human/nonhuman relations, they remain sparse and elective. Academics and graduate students who specialize in the subfield have expressed experiencing considerable stigma (nearly half of animal studies scholars according to a recent study) (O’Sullivan et al. 2019). In graduate school, my own advisor suggested that I downplay my animal focus and sell myself as a social movement scholar. Publishing is no less frustrating, as any topic even remotely related to animals is subject to redirection by editors and reviewers to Society & Animals, arguably the journalistic ghetto for animal scholars where no one in mainstream sociology would realistically ever come across our research.

The devaluation of our work frankly boggles my mind. The climate change crisis worsens by the day with each record-breaking temperature, each melted iceberg, and each species lost to extinction. This is a crisis brought on, to an enormous extent, by animal agriculture via the heavy production and utilization of oil, soybeans and other fodder, water, land, transportation, and other resources necessary to sustain meat, dairy, eggs, and other animal products. Researchers are also pointing to this strain on the environment as the reason for shrinking wild spaces and subsequently greater contact between humans and free-living nonhuman communities. As COVID-19 and hundreds of other zoonotic diseases have demonstrated, humanity’s oppressive relationship with other animals is not only dangerous for nonhumans, but for humans as well (particularly vulnerable folks such as the very young, the elderly, those with disabilities, those living with limited material means, etc.).

Perhaps the COVID-19 crisis will finally bring home the fact that human societies are deeply and consistently shaped by our relationships with other animals. The pandemic has disrupted all that sociology holds dear, from major social institutions to the most minor of social interactions. As such, sociologists cannot afford to continue ignoring and devaluing the nonhuman factor in human social life. At the policy level, the task is formidable, but as the global response to COVID-19 has indicated, big change can happen fast when the impetus is there.

Governmental bodies will need to cease subsidizing animal agriculture and other animal-based industries, which are both unsustainable and inherently violent to animals and the earth on which we all reside. Instead, agricultural agencies will need to immediately begin transitioning farmers toward sustainable, plant-based production. Neo-colonial practices that spread Western dietary practices, entrench colonial regions in animal agriculture, and fan food insecurity must be challenged. Much of the non-Western world has traditionally relied on plant-based consumption, a diet that has been gradually undermined by Western capitalist expansion. Now is the time to reimagine our relationship with other animals and critically reassess our consumption patterns.

For sociologists, we must begin to include nonhumans in our research, not just as variables, but as sentient beings who, like ourselves, have a stake in our society’s present and future. At the very least, we can begin to lend support and recognition to the study of animals and society, as it will only grow more pressing in the coming years.

Corey Wrenn, PhD
Chair, Animals & Society Section of the ASA
Lecturer in Sociology, University of Kent

References

O’Sullivan, S., Y. Watt, and F. Probyn-Rapsey. 2019. “Tainted Love: The Trials and Tribulations of a Career in Animal Studies.” Society & Animals 27 (4): 361-382.