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Project 1 Corrected
Project 1 Corrected
Project 1 Corrected
Dr. Price
Sociology 001
15 November 2020
In the TEDx Talk given by Paul Shapiro titled “What Will Future Generations Think of
Our Treatment of Animals?”, Mr. Shapiro discusses the question of how our descendants will
view the way we handle animals in our current society. We can view this video with a variety of
sociological perspectives from Goffman, Mark and Durkheim. The presentation is a clear
representation of the Social Conflict paradigm showing the conflict between those that have
Mr. Shapiro opens his presentation by painting a picture of how our ancestors had
socially accepted views that our current day society would find shocking. He gives examples of
how they thought owning another person was tolerable, how it was against nature for women to
vote, and how child labor was widely accepted. The recognition that our society’s moral concern
for humanity has expanded to include rights for those that previously had none and that this
He then presents the question of how our future generations will view the way that we
treat animals simply because they cannot speak for themselves. He suspects that our descendants
will not agree that it is acceptable to cage animals in spaces that are barely larger than their
bodies or that we genetically manipulate animals to grow larger and faster than what is natural.
He then encourages our current generation to push our moral concern out to include species other
than humans. He recognizes that this only happens when “big people stand up for those with
little power”. He hopes that our current generation can be the one to understand and accept that
animals deserve a much kinder society than the one we have given them so far.
Sociologist Erving Goffman established the dramaturgical perspective which is the idea
that individuals interact as if they are on stage seeking to put on a successful performance. Using
this perspective of self, one can make that assumption that the way we treat animals is
determined by what is deemed acceptable in common society. If we think back during the times
of slavery, it was commonplace to own a person so there was no fear of being viewed negatively
if you had a slave. Society then challenged this and if someone owned a slave now, they would
not only be judged harshly, but there would be legal consequences. If we take this view and
apply it to the way that we treat animals, it is currently acceptable to keep animals in cages such
as in a zoo. However, if animal rights continue to expand, then the assumption can be made that
when it becomes socially wrong to cage animals, organizations such as zoos will change their
way of animal treatment to better reflect what is socially acceptable. Goffman describes this
modification of the presentation to one’s self as impression management. When one changes
their actions in order to “save face” and avoid public embarrassment by treating animals different
than they have previously, they are following the face-work process.
lack thereof, of key material resources. From a Marxist perspective, the inequality of how
animals are treated are inevitable because animals do not have the ability to transform raw
materials into products, they only have their animal instincts. I would assume that Marx would
find it difficult for the way that animals are treated to be changed greatly unless the individuals
that with the power to establish these changes were backing it. According to Marx, the one with
the highest power and most resources are the ones that establish how social order is maintained.
Therefore, if the population of these individuals found that treating animals differently was of
Emile Durkheim was a sociologist that theorized society was an external force that
existed outside of the individual, but that individuals were influenced by the forces of society,
rather than society being influenced by the individuals. From the Durkheim perspective, social
facts are external manners of acting, thinking, and feeling that have the coercive power to shape
how we act, think, and feel. Therefore, in order for society to adjust the way that it treats
animals, the social facts would need to be reflect that animals need to have more rights than they
currently do. According to Durkheim, our current social order is seen as organic solidarity in
which there is a mutual interdependence among us and how society functions. Therefore, if we
tried to change animal rights, there are many levels and working parts that would need to be
adjusted for the change to happen. We are reliant on all parts working together in order to be a
prosperous society, so it would need to make sense as a whole to adjust animal rights. A small
group of individuals will not have the power to make this change but if the whole of society is
able to adjust their values over time, then the treatment of animals can change.
The Social Conflict paradigm focuses on power and the allocation of valued resources in
society. This is the paradigm that is most represented in this video because it assumes society is a
complex system characterized by inequality and that conflict generates social change. Mr.
Shapiro recognizes the inequality with how animals are being treated is a conflict in society and
it would take action from those with power to change how animals are being unfairly treated. If
we want to accomplish creating more rights for animals, it will only be done by most of the
they are awarded today. However, for these changes to occur, it will take the majority of society
to fight for it. It has been done in the past with different inequalities and it can be done again. If
society continues the trajectory of establishing more rights to those that do not have them, then
one can conclude that in the future animals will also benefit from these changes in society.
Works Cited
“What Will Future Generations Think of Our Treatment of Animals?” Performance by Paul
Shapiro, TEDx Talks, 6 Sept. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6w3A7E1Hw8