Animals in the world

A materialist approach to sociological animal studies

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2399321
AutoresRichard York (0000-0002-0890-5803, University of Oregon), B Longo (0000-0002-6409-8399, North Carolina State University, autor correspondente), Stefano B Longo (North Carolina State University)
Ano2017
Volume53
Fascículo1
Páginas32-46
Data de publicação2017-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1440-7833 • E-ISSN: 1741-2978
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1440783315607387
OpenAlexW2366065735
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas25
Referências citadas36

The connections between nonhuman animals and human societies have become an increasingly prominent topic of sociological research over the past decade. A focus on animals in sociological research raises a variety of conceptual and epistemological challenges, since sociological methods and theories were developed to analyze humans. We outline these challenges and elaborate a realist approach to animal studies, which focuses on the materiality of the animals in the world and does not confuse them with social constructions of animals. We examine the potential to combine methods focused on understanding human meaning, such as ethnography, with methods aimed at scientifically studying animal behavior from ethology, or a political ethology approach. We also assess how the materiality of animals can be incorporated into quantitative macro-comparative analyses as well as historical studies. We argue that increasingly incorporating animal studies into the domain of sociology can expand our understanding of the world and generate new questions for sociologists

Biology · Epistemology · Ethology · Materialism · Materiality (auditing) · Meaning (existential) · Social science · Sociological theory · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics) · Ecology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation