Kinship with Animals Flashcards
What has been the shift in pet keeping?
From function to affection
What is the contradiction?
Between affection shown to pets and animal welfare of industrial society
What does pet keeping challenge?
The species barrier
Midgley 1994 - the ‘anti-human’
How many pets in the UK?
51m
45% of households
Doubled in 60 years
Who says pets to ‘companion animals’?
Franklin, 1999
Irvine, 2004
Tipper says pets are increasingly seen as…
kin. 2008.
Pet economy
UK pet owners spent £5.4b on pet products and services in 2012
E.g. Kennels, Vets, Pet shops
Herzog?
1/2 of dog owners see them as family - 2010
Ritvo?
Shift from function to pleasure
When did pets become a feature of MC households?
c16th and c17th
How do pets differ from other animals?
- Live indoors
- Have names
- Not eaten
Thomas?
Pets are - company for lonely - relaxation for tired - compensation for childless (1984)
Effects of pet keeping?
Changed how people view the human-animal divide.
Other factors?
Gender (linked to domination and taming of nature)
Class (only recently has WC joined)
What is the moral ambiguity of pet keeping?
Contradiction of one set of animals treated as kin, whilst the other is exploited for food and experimented upon
Serpell 1996?
Pet keeping encircled by prejudice and misunderstanding. 1996
Fox?
Pets occupy ‘liminal position’ on boundary of human and animal (2006)
Who discusses power and domination?
TAUN 1984
What does Taun argue?
- Relationship characterised by dominance and affection.
Dominance - affection = animal.
Dominance + affection = pet. - Innocence of pet keeping now tarnished by power
- Power and domination manifest in different ways
Irvine
Pet keeping undermines viewing of animals as ‘other’ (2001)
How do pets become family?
- cohabitation
- replacement for family members
- companionship
- women more easily accept
- type of pet influences this
- more you interact and longer it lives
Why can’t a human be both human and animal?
IRREPLACEABILITY.
There will always be an unspoken superiority and inequality between humans and animals.
How do we dominate pets?
Just having a pet is a form of domination. Even if you care for them. (But domination is not automatically cruel)
We punish + discipline animals but they cannot do the same.
Stern and Cropper?
- we have always enjoyed companion animals
- romantic view of pets
- domestication intertwined with domination
- historical background - domination, manipulation and abuse
1998
Serpell 1986?
PARADOX - pets vs animals like pigs
1986
