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THE PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
ANIMAL ETHICS SERIES
Animals in the
Sociologies of
Westermarck and
Durkheim
Salla Tuomivaara
The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series
Series Editors
Andrew Linzey
Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
Oxford, UK
Priscilla N. Cohn
Pennsylvania State University
Villanova, PA, USA
Associate Editor
Clair Linzey
Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
Oxford, UK
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the ethics of our
treatment of animals. Philosophers have led the way, and now a range of
other scholars have followed from historians to social scientists. From
being a marginal issue, animals have become an emerging issue in ethics
and in multidisciplinary inquiry. This series will explore the challenges
that Animal Ethics poses, both conceptually and practically, to traditional
understandings of human-animal relations. Specifically, the Series will:
• provide a range of key introductory and advanced texts that map out
ethical positions on animals
• publish pioneering work written by new, as well as accom-
plished, scholars;
• produce texts from a variety of disciplines that are multidisciplinary in
character or have multidisciplinary relevance.
Animals in the
Sociologies of
Westermarck and
Durkheim
Salla Tuomivaara
Helsinki, Finland
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland
AG 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
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illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans-
mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
1
See, for example, Connell 1997.
Preface vii
References
Arluke, Arnold & Sanders, Clinton (1996) Regarding animals. Temple University
Press, Philadelphia.
Franklin, Adrian (1999) Animals and Modern Cultures. A Sociology of Human–
Animal Relations in Modernity. Sage, London.
Acknowledgements
I have carried out the research resulting in this book while living in four
cities on two continents—Helsinki, Tampere, Beijing and Hong Kong.
During this process of nearly 15 years, I have alternated between working
life and research work. I have met many inspiring persons working within
the tangled web of human–animal relations, aiming to create a better
understanding of the other animals we share our world with and thereby
to improve living conditions for us all. The valuable insights I have gained
from these people throughout the process and the way my thinking has
developed as a result of these experiences have improved my work in a
way that would not have been possible had it been done on a tight schedule.
This book grew out of an interest born when I was writing my master’s
thesis, which was an introduction to the sociology of human–animal rela-
tions. I am still grateful for the open-mindedness and encouragement of
professors of sociology at the universities of Tampere and Helsinki, Harri
Melin, Pekka Sulkunen and Turo-Kimmo Lehtonen, and researcher Jari
Aro, all of whom have supported me with my new and seemingly strange
topic. Professor Emerita Ulla Vuorela was the very first supervisor of my
doctoral studies and in the years after her premature death I sorely missed
her open, warm and analytical outlook on the world.
My colleague, researcher and sociologist Saara Kupsala was the person
who introduced me to the world of human–animal studies and sociologi-
cal animal studies. Without her, I probably would not have reached this
ix
x Acknowledgements
* * *
Acknowledgements xi
xiii
xiv Contents
9 Conclusion229
9.1 Accepting Animality: About the Openness to Face the
Other and to Recognize Its Sameness 231
9.2 The Challenge of Bringing Animals Back into Sociology 236
References239
References241
Index259
1
Why Study the Roots of Exclusion
of Animals in Sociology?
questioned. This human status was redefined in several ways in early soci-
ology, some of them differing from those that have been employed in the
later sociological canon. In this book, we will see that in the early period
of sociology there was a range of conceptions of animal and human: for
example, the meaning of the evolutionary theory for understanding
humans and other animals was interpreted in distinct ways.
Durkheim and Westermarck shared an interest in many sociological
questions, but they had diverging outlooks on human and animal, and
hence views of sociology as a discipline. Morality and its origins were a
major theme in early sociology and a central topic in both Durkheim’s
and Westermarck’s body of work; in their consideration of morals, they
both discussed animals, but in contrasting ways. This is because of their
differing views on the nature of human morality. Westermarck empha-
sizes the evolutionary development of morality, so that he sees humans as
sharing certain moral features with other animals. Durkheim’s perspec-
tive emphasizes the emergence of morality as a result of human social life
and society in concert with human social development and the qualita-
tive uniqueness and purely human nature of these phenomena.
Alongside morality, religion is one of the topics covered by both
Westermarck and Durkheim. To identify the significance of religion they
analysed and compared religions. Animals’ and people’s perceptions of
animals appear in their texts as a result, but in differing ways. Westermarck
is particularly interested in religious beliefs about animals and teachings
and norms concerning their proper treatment, whereas Durkheim exam-
ines the importance of animals mainly in totemism. Durkheim’s interest
lies especially in totemistic beliefs in the shared ancestors of humans and
animals and the divine nature given to animals in these belief systems.
Durkheim’s and Westermarck’s conflicting views on these themes of com-
mon interest led them to comment on each other’s interpretations in
their texts.
Westermarck’s and Durkheim’s perspectives on the relation between
man and animal are reflected in their thoughts on the essence of human-
ity and human social behaviour, the correct methodology of sociology
and their views on the relationship between sociology and other disci-
plines. Research on sociological views on animals can affect the disci-
pline’s understanding of humans and human society. It could also
4 S. Tuomivaara
this book. We have not known how the sociological view on animals has
been formed and how animals became excluded from the sociological
theory. The end of the nineteenth century was an era when human ani-
mality and the question of human nature and its unique character were
actively debated, not least because of the rise of the evolutionary theory.
My original suspicion that, in the early period of sociology, views on ani-
mals and the scope of the discipline might have been more fluid and
varied than they were later proved to be correct.
Animals have not been discussed widely in sociology except for the
recent work done in ‘sociological animal studies’, as a part of the emerg-
ing cross-disciplinary field of animal studies. This multidisciplinary field
has grown fast since the 1990s. This new area of research on human–ani-
mal relations and sociocultural meanings of animals has been carried out
under the titles ‘animals and society’, ‘HAS (human-animal studies)’,
‘animality studies’ and ‘anthrozoology’. Also, the field of ‘critical animal
studies’ is gaining ground. Critical animal studies are challenging the
anthropocentric perspectives found also in the field of human–animal
studies and taking a pronounced standpoint against the oppression of
animals (Peggs 2014, 41). This rise of academic interest in human–ani-
mal relationships and significance of animals and their treatment in
human societies has been called the ‘animal turn’.1
However, only some analyses have been made about classical social
scientists and the position of animals in their texts. G.H. Mead has been
the object of most interest thus far (e.g. Irvine 2003; Konecki 2005;
Myers 2003). Mead’s prioritization of language and anthropocentrism
have made his Mind, Self, and Society a negative classic in sociological
animal studies (Wilkie and McKinnon 2013). There have been some
analyses of animals in Marx’s thinking too (Benton 1993). Järvikoski
(1996a, 1996b) has briefly discussed animals while analysing the relation
of nature and society in the classical sociological texts of Marx, Durkheim,
Spencer and Comte. Philosopher Kari Väyrynen (e.g. 2006) has analysed
Westermarck from the perspective of environmental philosophy and, in
this context, also reviewed Westermarck’s views on animals and their
1
See, for example, Marvin and McHugh 2014; Society & Animals 10:4; Taylor 2013, 1–3; Taylor
and Twine 2014.
6 S. Tuomivaara
See, for example, Cudworth 2014; Latour 1993, 13; Macnaghten and Urry 1998 5; Taylor 2012, 37.
2
For example, Dickens 1992; Dunlap et al. 2002; Eder 1996; Franklin 2002; Latour 1993;
3
4
See, for example, Birke 1994, 12; Corbey 2005, 21–24.
5
See, for example, Cudworth 2014.
8 S. Tuomivaara
individuals—are they part of our social life? Is our social behaviour differ-
ent from the social behaviour of other animals, and how? Our answers to
these questions affect the ways sociological studies are carried out.
Sometimes the field that studies social behaviour of animals—animal
sociology—has been seen as a possible part of sociology.6 In a Finnish
book about the history of sociology published in 1945, animal sociology
(tiersoziologie) is mentioned among “new positivist sciences close to soci-
ology” (Karsten 1945, 115).7 But more commonly, animal sociology is
considered part of ethology or zoology—natural science of (behaviour
of ) animals. Mainstream sociology does not include social behaviour of
animals in its scope.
Even if we leave the study of social life of animals aside from sociology,
the question about the social relationships between humans and other
animals and the social meanings of animals remains—in addition to our
idea about humans as animals or something else. Animals are central to
our idea of humanity and the special nature of social sciences. This makes
it impossible for social sciences to let animals be defined only by natural
sciences, or take our view on animals and animality for granted. How
much do we as social scientists really know about animals?
The number of studies paying attention to significance of animals in
human societies and human lives has grown rapidly in recent years, but
research on our relationship with animals and the animal in us is still
inadequate. There is lot of catching up to do as silence around animals
has persisted for a long period of time.8 As our concepts of human and
animal are inseparably intertwined, reconsideration of ideas of animals
also affects our understanding of humans.
The rise of evolutionary psychology, sociobiology and other academic
discussions about the natural versus cultural explanation of human
behaviour are connected to this re-evaluation of our understanding of the
relationship between nature and culture/society—and to the question of
human–animal boundary. But they are not the only perspective from
which we can reconsider the binary opposition built between us and
6
See, for example, Bain, 1928 in Emel and Wolch 1998; Science 1932.
7
Karsten was a student of Westermarck (see, e.g., Stroup 1982a, xi).
8
See Arluke 2002; Cudworth 2014; Tovey 2002, 27; Tovey 2003.
1 Why Study the Roots of Exclusion of Animals in Sociology? 9
is. Animals are not an abstract other of human society like nature; they are
living individual others, which directly feel the consequences of the ways
we see them, who interact with us and who still help to define what we do
not want to be: ‘just animals’. To define ourselves, we place ourselves
above them. We are what they are not.
In the studies of the sociological tradition and classical sociology, the
question of the exclusion of animals has figured even less than in the new
field of sociological animal studies. Even though the relationship between
the field of nature and natural sciences and the field of social and social
sciences has been a crucial one in sociology, the classics have not really
been re-read from the perspective of human–animal dichotomy. As this
dichotomy is one of the basic assumptions in sociological theories, its
analysis poses essential questions for sociological self-understanding.
Questioning of the human–animal boundary and growing societal
reflection on the proper treatment of animals are phenomena of the cur-
rent era—sometimes referred to as late-modern, post-modern, or ultra-
modern. Working as a mirror of our society, sociology is becoming more
interested in these questions too. Interest in animals’ significance in our
social life and their meaning for our societies has grown in various fields
of science. This is partly due to the rise of animal protection and animal
rights movements and the increased political weight of animal issues. But
these changes are also due to the growing scientific knowledge about the
abilities of nonhuman animals. The advancement of animal welfare sci-
ence and research on animal cognition have increased the demands for
better treatment of animals and strengthened discussion on animal rights.
Sociologist Adrian Franklin (2002, 3) writes: “One senses, from a num-
ber of diverse sources, that older relationships and the boundaries between
humans and nonhumans have been questioned and are now being
rejected both in theory and in practice.”
To take one example to illustrate what Franklin is talking about, in
2012, an international group of prominent cognitive neuroscientists,
neuropharmacologists, neurophysiologists, neuroanatomists, and com-
putational neuroscientists signed the Cambridge Declaration on
Consciousness, stating that most animals are conscious and aware in the
same way humans are, and that “it’s no longer something that we can
ignore.” The list of conscious animals includes all mammals, birds, and
1 Why Study the Roots of Exclusion of Animals in Sociology? 11
10
See, for example, Wolfe 2010, xii.
11
See, for example, Braidotti 2013; Wolfe 2010.
1 Why Study the Roots of Exclusion of Animals in Sociology? 13
man turn’ (see, e.g., Grusin [ed.] 2015). What connects all these
approaches is their critique of the exclusive humanity of social sciences:
the refusal to pay attention to the significance of nonhuman habitants of
our societies.
Posthumanist thought has risen as a critique of the assumptions of
natural and inevitable dichotomy between humans and animals, rational-
ity as the basis of the human being in the world and the anthropocentric
worldview. One of the central claims of posthumanism is that the anthro-
pocentric attitude prevalent in modern humanist sciences has excluded
and devalued animals. By posthumanism, I refer to scientific approaches
that challenge traditional ways of defining (the) human and the bound-
ary between human and nonhuman. Simultaneously, posthumanism
acknowledges its own inevitable human-centrism as it is still theorized by
and for human beings (Ferrando 2012, 10). Posthumanism shows that
our ideas of human are social and historical constructions and social con-
ventions—while at the same time emphasizing our embodied being in
the world, our shared vulnerability and finiteness with other animals.12
This means that posthumanism does not only criticize humanism for its
exclusion of other animals, but also the exclusion of animal from the
social construction of human: human life has not included animal others
and if there are elements that are considered ‘animal’ in human beings
themselves, these have not appeared meaningful or valued.
Posthumanism rejects ‘pure’ categories that include some, for example
humans, and exclude others, like animals. Neat categories exist only in
texts created by humans, like Taylor (2012, 38) writes. Such categories
operate politically and ideologically and are based on false premises.
Posthumanism acknowledges the messiness of all the categories and the
hybrid nature of reality (ibid.).
Our generalized use of the singular word animal to describe the multi-
sided, vast animal kingdom has often been called one of our most violent
acts towards other animals, Derrida (2002) being the most salient exam-
ple of this perspective. As Braidotti (2013, 30) writes, the acknowledge-
ment of this “epistemic violence goes hand in hand with the recognition
of the real-life violence which was and still is practiced against nonhuman
12
For example, Braidotti 2013, 13–37.
14 S. Tuomivaara
animals and the dehumanized social and political ‘others’ of the humanist
norm”. Deconstruction of the human–animal dichotomy can have con-
sequences to both human self-perception and our mundane practices that
involve violence towards other animals.
Bauman has discussed similar features as typical for modernity: its
obsession with creating order in a world seen otherwise as chaotic; cate-
gories as a tool that we use to make the world predictable. But reality is
always ambivalent; it does not fit neatly in the categories we have created.
There are always things that defy these classifications and this ambiva-
lence makes us anxious—and strengthens our attempts to divide and
classify (See Bauman 1991, 14–15).
The modern science of sociology has been a very humanistic science—
in good and bad ways. It has stood up for the absolute value of humans
and analysed and fought different forms of oppression. Sociology has
been clear in its view that the social life of humans cannot be explained
by the means of natural sciences, as humans are products of their culture,
their social relationships, society, and its institutions and norms.
Posthumanism asks if there ever has been this human that humanism
talks about. Wolfe (2010, 93) describes ‘the human’ of humanism as
being achieved through escaping or repressing human’s animal origins in
nature—the biological and the evolutionary—but also by transcending
the bonds of materiality and embodiment altogether. Wolfe’s critique is
directed especially at the over-emphasized role of language and the overly-
strict line between human language and the communicative abilities of
other animals. Posthumanism wants to change anthropocentric human-
ism to approaches which are open to all beings and entities that are or
have been considered nonhuman and to embrace our shared vulnerable
existence as embodied, sentient living beings (cf. Ferrando 2012, 10).
Transhumanism is sometimes seen as part of posthumanism, but like
Wolfe, I see transhumanism more as an accelerated version of humanism
than its critique. Posthumanism “opposes the fantasies of disembodiment
and autonomy” (Wolfe 2010, xv). Our shared embodiment, mortality,
and finitude make us fellow creatures, subjects of life.13
Classical humanism is a companion of modernity and it is a compan-
ion of sociology. It emphasizes reason and value of the human beings. It
13
Wolfe 2010, xxiii, 62, 77, 80.
1 Why Study the Roots of Exclusion of Animals in Sociology? 15
Essaya.
VII.
RUKOUS SYVYYDESTÄ.
»Silloin kun minä Sinua avukseni huudan, niin Sinä kuulet minua,
ja
annat minun sielulleni suuren väkevyyden.» Ps. 138:3.
Westminster Sermons.
Westminster Sermons.
Westminster Sermons.
Westminster Sermons.
Westminster Sermons.
VIII.
RUKOUKSIA JA TUNNUSTUKSIA.
Totisesta ihanuudesta.
Puhtaudesta ja hyvyydestä.
Oi Jumala, Sinä olet hyvä, vaan minä olen paha; juuri siitä syystä
tulen minä luoksesi. Minä tulen, että minut tehtäisiin hyväksi. Minä
ihailen Sinun hyvyyttäsi, ja minä halajan saada sen omakseni, vaan
minä en sitä taida, ellet Sinä auta minua. Puhdista minua, tee minut
puhtaaksi. Puhdista minut salaisista virheistäni ja istuta minun
sisimpääni totuus. Tee minun kanssani, mitä tahdot. Kasvata minua
niinkuin tahdot. Rankaise minua, jos se on välttämätöntä. Tee minut
ainoastaan hyväksi. Amen.
Sielun rauhasta.
Synnintunnustus.
Isä, minä olen syntiä tehnyt Sinua vastaan enkä ansaitse enää
Sinun lapsesi nimeä; mutta minä tulen Sinun luoksesi. Isä, minä
vihaan itseäni; vaan Sinä rakastat minua. Minä en ymmärrä itseäni,
vaan Sinä ymmärrät; ja Sinä tahdot olla armollinen Sinun omia
kättesi töitä kohtaan. Minä en voi johtaa ja auttaa itseäni, vaan sinä
voit auttaa minua, ja Sinä sen tahdotkin, koska Sinä olet minun Isäni,
eikä mikään voi eroittaa minua Sinun rakkaudestasi, tai Sinun
Poikasi, minun Kuninkaani rakkaudesta. Minä tulen ja pyydän päästä
osalliseksi Sinusta, juuri sentähden ettei minulla mitään ole enkä
mitään voi antaa Sinulle, vaan makaan Sinun ovellasi kuin
kerjäläinen, täynnä haavoja, haluten saada ravintoa muruista Sinun
pöydältäsi. Ja jos minä mielelläni tahdon auttaa kurjia, kuinka paljoa
enempi Sinä tahdotkaan auttaa minua. Sinun nimesi on rakkaus, ja
Sinun ihanuutesi on Sinun Poikasi Jesuksen Kristuksen kaltaisuus,
joka sanoi: »Tulkaa Minun tyköni kaikki, jotka työtä teette ja olette
raskautetut, ja Minä tahdon teitä virvoittaa!» Mat. 11:28. »Jos te,
jotka pahat olette, taidatte hyviä lahjoja antaa teidän lapsillenne,
kuinka paljoa enempi teidän taivaallinen Isänne antaa Pyhän
Hengen sitä anoville.» Luk. 11:13. Amen.
Heikkouden tunnustus.
Oi Jumala, minun Isäni, minä olen Sinun; pelasta minut, sillä minä
olen etsinyt Sinun käskyjäsi. Minä olen Sinun — en ainoasti Sinun
luomasi, oi Jumala — niin ovat myöskin linnut, hyönteiset ja
kukkaset, ja ne tekevät velvollisuutensa paljoa paremmin kuin minä
teen, Jumala sen mulle suokoon anteeksi.