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Animals and Society

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Handbook of the Sociology of Morality, Volume 2

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

The sociology of morality’s core concerns with social structure and power, sociohistorical context, and the impact of social identities and social practices on institutions (Hitlin and Vaisey, Handbook of the sociology of morality, Springer Science & Business Media, 2010; Annual Review of Sociology, 39:51–68, 2013) are broadly shared among sociologists who study animals and society. At the same time, we would also argue that acknowledging and grappling with the role of animals in society and in sociology is critical to any type of comprehensive sociology of morality. In this chapter, we articulate the mutual relevance of these fields by discussing the anthropocentric legacy in both sociology and anthropology, the emergence of alternative perspectives on animals and subsequent negative reactions, and recent developments in the animal study literatures.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rural Sociology, Rock Ethics Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Robert Magneson Chiles

  2. Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Catherine Mendel

Authors
  1. Robert Magneson Chiles
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  2. Catherine Mendel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert Magneson Chiles .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology & Criminology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Steven Hitlin

  2. Department of Sociology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Shai M. Dromi

  3. Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Aliza Luft

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Chiles, R.M., Mendel, C. (2023). Animals and Society. In: Hitlin, S., Dromi, S.M., Luft, A. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Morality, Volume 2 . Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32022-4_19

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