What do wolves mean? Conflicting social constructions of Canis lupus in “bordertown”

Abstract

Meanings are an indispensable part of all human societies, yet when social controversies arise, meanings often lose their shared, commonly understood characteristics. This is exhibited in the substantial variety of meanings imbued to wolves (Canis lupus) by social groups in communities bordering Yellowstone National Park, where wolves were reintroduced beginning in 1995. Residents of the region give a range of meanings to the wolves, including symbols of freedom and wildness, scientific conundrum, and vicious killer. Underlying this complex of meanings is a distinction between dichotomous pairs of concepts, “control/power”; and “self‐determination/freedom.”; Residents see their personal—and even the wolves'—volition (self‐determination and freedom) as being lost to a domineering (powerful and controlling) federal government. In the future, governmental agencies may be able to use an understanding of the multiplicity of meanings created by the social groups involved in environmental controversies to lessen conflict over contentious wildlife issues by seeking out those meanings at the earliest stages of policy implementation and incorporating them into conflict resolution processes.