Who does the moose belong to? – Legitimation of collective psychological ownership

Abstract

Natural resources from rural areas provide benefits beyond the local context. Thus, increasingly other than local people feel that they have “right to enjoy” and also “right to a say” on their use. This is particularly true for cases such as wildlife that often have ambiguous legal ownership. Game animals provide millions of kilogrammes of meat annually. As domestic meat has become stigmatized for several reasons, the market interest towards game as ecological and ethical meat is growing. Rural areas have socially developed norms and rules for utilizing game. However, these practices have lately been challenged and critical voices have been raised of who actually has the right to benefit from game and game meat. This paper studies moose hunters' feelings of ownership towards moose and moose meat in Finland. In addition legitimation used to support the current hunting and meat division practices is analysed. The data consist of 20 in-depth interviews. The theoretical background is based on collective psychological ownership and legitimation theories. The results show that hunters feel an extended collective psychological ownership towards the moose, and this seems to define “outsiders’” access to moose meat. The theoretical contribution demonstrates the dynamic nature of collective psychological ownership and its role in legitimation arguments.