Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Building A Vegan Feminist Network In The Professionalized Digital Age Of Third Wave Animal Activism, Corey Lee Wrenn

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

Despite its legacy of feminist leadership and a continued female majority, the Nonhuman Animal rights movement has exhibited structural sexism across its various waves of protest. This institutionalized sexism not only inhibits women’s ability to protest safely and effectively, but also permeates the activist imagination and aggravates interpersonal violence. Even Nonhuman Animals as a feminized group are unwittingly disparaged in popular campaigns. This essay suggests that structural sexism in the Nonhuman Animal rights movement is nourished by its patriarchal organization, specifically its decision to professionalize. Twenty-first century vegan feminist activism on the margins has been able to circumvent the hegemony …

Animal Rights As A Mainstream Phenomenon, Bernard E. Rollin

Bernard Rollin, PhD

Businesses and professions must stay in accord with social ethics, or risk losing their autonomy. A major social ethical issue that has emerged in the past four decades is the treatment of animals in various areas of human use. Society’s moral concern has outgrown the traditional ethic of animal cruelty that began in biblical times and is encoded in the laws of all civilized societies. There are five major reasons for this new social concern, most importantly, the replacement of husbandry-based agriculture with industrial agriculture. This loss of husbandry to industry has threatened the traditional fair contract between humans and …

Animals In Disasters: Issues For Animal Liberation Activism And Policy, Leslie Irvine

Leslie Irvine, PhD

Non-human animals face significant risks in meteorological, geological, technological, and terrorist disasters. A large network of rescue organizations and policies has developed in response to the needs of animals. This paper examines the animal response system through four case studies, revealing issues and conflicts that can inform animal rights policy and activism. The first case examines the response to Hurricane Katrina, pointing out that emergency response plans reflect speciesist assumptions that give human lives priority, in all circumstances. The media highlighted accusations of racism during the Katrina response, but activists need to educate the public about the connections between these …

The Quality Of Mercy: Organized Animal Protection In The United States 1866-1930, Bernard Unti

Bernard Unti, PhD

This study situates organized concern for animals in relation to other postCivil War reforms--including temperance and child protection. It explains the rise of humane work in light of antebellum trends in law, education, philosophy, and religion, and the perception that animals were at the heart of many sanitary and public health concerns. It qualifies interpretations that reduce animal protection to an exercise in social control. It denies the importance of the Darwinian assertion that humans were animals to the movement's formation. Finally, it disputes claims that concern for animals served a "displacement" function until some human reforms became socially acceptable.

Regime Change From Below - Toppling The Doug Ford Regime, Stephen D'Arcy

Stephen D'Arcy

Food Justice Youth Development: Using Photovoice To Study Urban School Food Systems, Krista Harper, Catherine Sands, Diego Angarita, Molly Totman, Monica Maitin, Jonell Sostre Rosado, Jazmin Colon, Nick Alger

Catherine Sands

The Public Sphere As Site Of Emancipation And Enlightenment: A Discourse Theoretic Critique Of Digital Communication, David Ingram, Asaf Bar-Tura

David Ingram

Habermas claims that an inclusive public sphere is the only deliberative forum for generating public opinion that satisfies the epistemic and normative conditions underlying legitimate decision-making. He adds that digital technologies and other mass media need not undermine – but can extend – rational deliberation when properly instituted. This paper draws from social epistemology and technology studies to demonstrate the epistemic and normative limitations of this extension. We argue that current online communication structures fall short of satisfying the required epistemic and normative conditions. Furthermore, the extent to which Internet-based communications contribute to legitimate democratic opinion and will formation depends …

Environmental Advocacy: Insights From East Asia, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

Animal Rights Is A Social Justice Issue, Robert C. Jones

Robert C. Jones, PhD

The literature on social justice, and social justice movements themselves, routinely ignore nonhuman animals as legitimate subjects of social justice. Yet, as with other social justice movements, the contemporary animal liberation movement has as its focus the elimination of institutional and systemic domination and oppression. In this paper, I explicate the philosophical and theoretical foundations of the contemporary animal rights movement, and situate it within the framework of social justice. I argue that those committed to social justice – to minimizing violence, exploitation, domination, objectification, and oppression – are equally obligated to consider the interests of all sentient beings, not …

Social Movement Prostitution: A Case Study In Nonhuman Animal Rights Activism And Vegan Pimping, Corey Lee Wrenn

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

This article explores the sexual objectification of female-identified volunteers in social movements as a form of tactical prostitution, arguing that tactical prostitution constitutes a violation of the dignity of women in social movement spaces, while posing a threat to the wellbeing of women and children in the larger public. This article investigates the Nonhuman Animal Rights movement, particularly suggesting that tactical prostitution is particularly counterintuitive in this context as it asks the public to stop objectifying Nonhuman Animals with the same oppressive logic that it wields by objectifying female activists. This critique is placed within a systemic analysis of neoliberalism …

The Medicalization Of Nonhuman Animal Rights: Frame Contestation And The Exploitation Of Disability, Corey Lee Wrenn, Joanne Clark, Maddie Judge, Katherine A. Gilchrist, Delanie Woodlock, Katherine Dotson, Riva Spanos, Jonothan Wrenn

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

Nonhuman Animal rights activists are sometimes dismissed as ‘crazy’ or irrational by countermovements seeking to protect status quo social structures. Social movements themselves often utilize disability narratives in their claims-making as well. In this article, we argue that Nonhuman Animal exploitation and Nonhuman Animal rights activism are sometimes medicalized in frame disputes. The contestation over mental ability ultimately exploits humans with disabilities. The medicalization of Nonhuman Animal rights activism diminishes activists’ social justice claims, but the movement’s medicalization of Nonhuman Animal use unfairly otherizes its target population and treats disability identity as a pejorative. Utilizing a content analysis of major …

Resonance Of Moral Shocks In Abolitionist Animal Rights Advocacy: Overcoming Contextual Constraints, Corey Lee Wrenn

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

Jasper and Poulsen (1995) have long argued that moral shocks are critical for recruitment in the nonhuman animal rights movement. Building on this, Decoux (2009) argues that the abolitionist faction of the nonhuman animal rights movement fails to recruit members because it does not effectively utilize descriptions of suffering. However, the effectiveness of moral shocks and subsequent emotional reactions has been questioned. This article reviews the literature surrounding the use of moral shocks in social movements. Based on this review, it is suggested that the exploitation of emotional reactions to depictions of suffering can sometimes prove beneficial to recruitment, but …

An Analysis Of Diversity In Nonhuman Animal Rights Media, Corey Lee Wrenn

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

Lack of diversity in the ranks as well as a failure to resonate with disadvantaged groups and other anti-oppression movements has been cited as one important barrier to the American Nonhuman Animal rights movement’s success (Kymlicka and Donaldson 2013). It is possible that social movements are actively inhibiting diversity in the ranks and audience by producing literature that reflects a narrow activist identity. This article creates a platform from which these larger issues can be explored by investigating the actual demographic representations present in a small sample of popular media sources produced by the movement for other animals. A content …

Abolitionist Animal Rights: Critical Comparisons And Challenges Within The Animal Rights Movement, Corey Lee Wrenn

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

The abolitionist movement is an emergent and radical approach to nonhuman animal rights. Calling for a complete cessation in nonhuman animal use through the abolishing of property status for nonhuman animals and an adoption of veganism and nonviolence, this approach stands in stark contrast to mainstream approaches such as humane production and welfare reform. This paper describes the goals and stances of abolitionism; the basic debate between abolitionism and other nonhuman animal rights movements; and the current state, challenges, and future prospects for abolitionism. It is argued that abolitionism, as developed by Francione, is the only morally consistent approach for …

Abolition Then And Now: Tactical Comparisons Between The Human Rights Movement And The Modern Nonhuman Animal Rights Movement In The United States, Corey Lee Wrenn

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

This article discusses critical comparisons between the human and nonhuman abolitionist movements in the United States. The modern nonhuman abolitionist movement is, in some ways, an extension of the anti-slavery movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the ongoing human Civil Rights movement. As such, there is considerable overlap between the two movements, specifically in the need to simultaneously address property status and oppressive ideology. Despite intentional appropriation of terminology and numerous similarities in mobilization efforts, there has been disappointingly little academic discussion on this relationship. There are significant contentions regarding mobilization and goal attainment in the human abolitionist …

Applying Social Movement Theory To Nonhuman Rights Mobilization And The Importance Of Faction Hierarchies, Corey Lee Wrenn

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

This paper offers an exploratory analysis of social movement theory as it relates to the nonhuman animal rights movement. Individual participant motivations and experiences, movement resource mobilization, and movement relationships with the public, the political environment, historical context, countermovements, and the media are discussed. In particular, the hierarchical relationships between factions are highlighted as an important area for further research in regards to social movement success. Specifically, the role of counterframing in subduing radical mobilization and the potential aggravating factor of status contamination is explored.

The Role Of Professionalization Regarding Female Exploitation In The Nonhuman Animal Rights Movement, Corey Lee Wrenn

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

Adams (2004, The pornography of meat. London: The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd), Deckha (2008, Disturbing images: PETA and the feminist ethics of animal advocacy. Ethics and the environment, 13(2), 35–76), Gaarder (2011, Women and the animal rights movement. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press), Glasser (2011, Tied oppressions: an analysis of how sexist imagery reinforces speciesist sentiment. The Brock review, 12(1), 51–68), and others have criticized People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for sexually exploiting young women in outreach and fundraising efforts. This article extends these critiques in addressing the problematic relationship between objectified volunteer female activists and …

A Critique Of Single-Issue Campaigning And The Importance Of Comprehensive Abolitionist Vegan Advocacy, Corey Lee Wrenn, Rob Johnson

Corey Lee Wrenn, PhD

A popular tactic in the professional nonhuman animal rights movement is to utilize species-specific or issue-specific campaigns to increase public concern, motivate participation and extend movement support. This article challenges this traditional tactic of moderate nonhuman animal organizations in critiquing the issue-specific approaches to abolition advanced elsewhere and calls for a holistic abolitionist method that requires advocates to relinquish confusing piecemeal campaigns and instead challenge the underlying problem of speciesism in order to influence lasting and meaningful social change. The article applies Francione's radical theory of nonhuman animal rights, which recognizes the importance of vegan education in challenging this oppression. …

New Uri Journal Explores Sexual Exploitation, G. Wayne Miller, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

New Hampshire Juvenile Sex Trafficking Survivor Urges Representatives To Vote Against Decriminalized Prostitution, Darlene Pawlik, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Bibliography Of Sources On Prostitution Decriminalization In Rhode Island, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Melanie Shapiro Esq

Donna M. Hughes

Competing Social Movements And Local Political Culture : Voting On Ballot Propositions To Ban Same-Sex Marriage., Arnold Fleischmann, Laura Moyer

Laura Moyer

Objective: This paper uses social movement theory to explain variation in local support for proposed constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage in 22 states during 2004 and 2006. Methods: The analysis uses OLS regression with county-level data to explain variation in local support for the amendments. Results: Support for the amendments in both years was positively related to the proportion of a county that was evangelical or Republican, but negatively related to its level of education and proportion of Catholics. Amendment support was positively related in only one year to the percentage of a county’s population that was professional, young, …

Moral Emotions And Social Activism: The Case Of Animal Rights, Harold A. Herzog, Lauren L. Golden

Harold Herzog, PhD

Why do some people and not others become involved in social movements? We examined the relationships between a moral emotion—disgust—and animal activism, attitudes toward animal welfare, and consumption of meat. Participants were recruited through two social networking websites and included animal activists, promoters of animal use, and participants not involved in animal-related causes. They took an online survey which included measures of sensitivity to visceral disgust, attitudes toward animal welfare, and frequency of meat eating. Animal activists were more sensitive to visceral disgust than were promoters of animal use or nonaligned participants. Disgust sensitivity was positively correlated with attitudes toward …

Attitudes And Dispositional Optimism Of Animal Rights Demonstrators, Shelley L. Galvin, Harold A. Herzog

Harold Herzog, PhD

Mail-in surveys were distributed to animal activists attending the 1996 March for the Animals. Age and gender demographic characteristics of the 209 activists who participated in the study were similar to those of the 1990 March for the Animals demonstrators. Most goals of the animal rights movement were judged to be moderately to critically important, although beliefs about their chances of being realized varied considerably. Movement tactics judged to be least effective included the liberation of laboratory animals and the harassment of researchers. Education was seen as being a particularly important instrument of future social change. Demonstrators' scores on the …

Animal Rights Talk: Moral Debate Over The Internet, Harold A. Herzog Jr., Beth Dinoff, Jessica R. Page

Harold Herzog, PhD

Messages sent over Animal Rights-Talk, an electronic mail network devoted to the discussion of issues related to the animal rights movement, were analyzed. Messages typically fell into the following categories: questions and information, discussions of philosophical issues, ethical problems associated with the treatment of particular species, the politics of the animal rights movement, problems of moral consistency, the ethics of particular uses of non-human species (e.g., meat consumption, biomedical research with animal subjects), and matters pertaining to the internal life of the network (e.g., efforts at control of perceived norm violations). Debates between animal activists and animal researchers over the …

The Caring Sleuth: Portrait Of An Animal Rights Activist, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Kenneth J. Shapiro, PhD

The present study of the psychology of animal rights activists utilizes a qualitative analytic method based on two forms of data: a set of questionnaire protocols completed by grassroots activists and of autobiographical accounts by movement leaders. The resultant account keys on the following descriptives: (1) an attitude of caring, (2) suffering as an habitual object of perception, and (3) the aggressive and skillful uncovering and investigation of instances of suffering. In a final section, the investigator discusses tensions and conflicts arising from these three themes and various ways of attempting to resolve them.

Rational Engagement, Emotional Response, And The Prospects For Moral Progress In Animal Use “Debates”, Nathan Nobis

Nathan M. Nobis, PhD

This chapter is designed to help people rationally engage moral issues regarding the treatment of animals, specifically in experimentation, research, product testing, and education. Little “new” philosophy is offered here, strictly speaking. New arguments are unnecessary to help make progress in how people think about these issues. What is needed are improved abilities to engage the arguments already on the table, for example, stronger skills at identifying and evaluating the existing reasons given for and against conclusions on the morality of various uses of animals. To help improve these abilities, this chapter sets forth a set of basic but powerful …

Frank Mcmahon: The Investigator Who Took A Bite Out Of Animal Lab Suppliers, Bernard Unti

Bernard Unti, PhD

While McMahon was best known for his investigations of dog dealers, research laboratories, and the transportation of animals, he also inspected hundreds of rodeos, slaughterhouses, stockyards, cockfights, dogfights, horse shows, and animal auctions. In the late 1960s, McMahon extended his work to include wildlife protection, providing relief to wild horse populations in the western United States and launching an investigation of the Pribilof Island seal clubbing.

A Social History Of Postwar Animal Protection, Bernard Unti, Andrew N. Rowan

Bernard Unti, PhD

After World War II, the animal protection movement enjoyed the revival that we discuss in this chapter. Contemporary scholarship suggests that social movements are more or less continuous, shifting from periods of peak activity to those of relative decline. The renaissance of animal protection during the past half century involved several distinct phases of evolution. Such divisions are discretionary, but they can clarify important trends. This analysis relies on a three-stage chronology in considering the progress of postwar animal protection, one that emphasizes revival, mobilization and transformation, and consolidation of gains.

Book Review: Policing And The Poetics Of Everyday Life., Rodger E. Broome Phd

Rodger E. Broome

Policing and the poetics of everyday life. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008. 256 pp. ISBN 978-0-252-03371-1 (cloth). $42.00. Policing and the Poetics of Everyday Life is a hermeneutical-aesthetic analysis within a human scientific approach of modern policing in the United States. It is an important study of police-citizen encounters informed by hermeneutic aesthetic thought and the author’s professional experience as a veteran with a Seattle area police department in Washington, USA.