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What's in a face? The social character of the English Bulldog

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Abstract

The English Bulldog is introduced as a cultural product through ethnographic description. Its peculiar physiology relates to its social meanings and three categories of the dog are discerned: show dogs, celebrities, and pets. Each type of dog embodies a selective character, which is depicted and then analyzed in terms of ambiguous semantic categories. As a cultural product, the Bulldog is a living symbol of ambiguous relationships between society and nature. In the context of everyday life, it provides an occasion for understanding these relationships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Macalester College, 55105, Saint Paul, MN

    Jeffrey E. Nash Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Jeffrey E. Nash Ph.D.
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Special thanks to Anne Sutherland for introducing to me structural analysis of the meanings of animals in culture.

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Nash, J.E. What's in a face? The social character of the English Bulldog. Qual Sociol 12, 357–370 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00989397

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00989397

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