Animals and Biology as Destiny

Abstract

Sociology has been regarded traditionally as the study of humans in societies. Sociological theories that centre on action, which stress the role of meaning in social interaction, point us to the social rather than the biological foundations of sociological analysis. Because other animals have been, and continue to be, associated with the biological rather than with the social it has been argued (by Mead (1934) and others) that the appropriate focus in sociology is on humans alone. However, Bryant (1979) argues that sociology has a great deal to offer in the study of the ‘zoological connection’. In this chapter I take this further by beginning to explore issues associated with other animals in society as they might be examined in sociology. Because sociological theories point us in the direction of the social rather than the biological, I begin by exploring sociological thinking on the role of biology. Although the history of the development of sociology and biology has been entwined (Fuller, 2006, p. 80), this entanglement has at times been less than harmonious, not least because sociology has sought to challenge biological deterministic notions about differences among humans. In this chapter I explore the challenge that sociology has made to biology and critique naturalistic approaches that view the biological composition of beings as a justification for inequalities.