Our Animals, Our Selves? Chipping Away the Human–Animal Divide

Abstract

The notion of a sociology of animals is likely to strike many as odd, if not contradictory. Subordinated to the interests of humans, animals have rarely been considered members of any human society. However, the past 20-25 years have witnessed the birth of a new field within sociology, one primarily concerned with the ways that animals and humans interact, but which inevitably touches what such interactions say about the nature of both human and animal consciousness. The existence of the social scientific journal and and the recent addition of an ASA section named Animals and Society attest that this emerging field is solidifying a place in the academy. However, one could hardly argue that mainstream sociologists generally recognize human-animal relations as significant. The fate of human-animal studies appears to depend largely on its ability to show how incorporating animals into our investigations of society will enhance understanding across many avenues of sociological inquiry, including identity, community, politics, and economy. Without this wider framework, human-animal studies risks being dismissed as a thinly veiled, institutionalized branch of the animal rights movement.