Horse Maiming in the English Countryside: Moral Panic, Human Deviance, and the Social Construction of Victimhood

Roger Yates, Chris Powell, and Piers Beirne


The societal reaction to a series of horse assaults in rural Hampshire during the 1990s was a rare example of a moral panic about crime and deviance in which animals other than humans occupy, or seemed to occupy, the central role of victim. This paper explores how the nature of the relationships between humans and animals is revealed through authoritative utterances about offenders and victims by the mass media, the police, and the humans who felt they had a stake in the horses’ well-being. Analysis of how and when victimhood is ascribed to animals helps to uncover the invisible assaults routinely inflicted on them-in the name of business or pleasure, for example-and against whose human perpetrators the categories of criminalization are almost never applied.
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Pet Attachment and Dissociation

Sue-Ellen Brown. and Aaron H. Katcher

This study replicated the co-existence of dissociation and pet attachment in 113 female veterinary technician students based on a bivariate correlation analysis and chi-square analysis of their responses to the 28-question Dissociative Experiences Scale and an eight-question “pet” attachment questionnaire. The study replicated the positive correlation between pet attachment and dissociation first reported by Brown & Katcher (1997). Also replicated was the finding that significantly more with the highest pet attachment had clinical levels of dissociation than did those with lower attachment.Results compared to a meta-analytic study found their level of dissociation to be higher than participants in non-animal-related categories. This study suggests that dissociation may characterize one subset of people highly attached to pets and discusses implications for companion animal research and individuals in animal-related careers.

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Caring about Blood, Flesh, and Pain: Women’s Standing in the Animal Protection Movement

Lyle Munro

Using the results of a survey of animal rights activists, advocates, and supporters, the paper reveals much more convergence (80%) than divergence (20%) of attitudes and actions by male and female animal protectionists. Analysis of the divergence suggests that the differences between men and women in the movement are contingent upon such things as early socialization, gendered work and leisure patterns, affinity with companion animals, ambivalence about science, and a history of opposition to nonhuman animal abuse by generations of female activists and animal advocates. Aside from the feminist and women’s movements and groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving , it is rare to find a social movement in which the standing of women eclipses those of their male colleagues. The paper suggests that animal protection remains a bastion of female activism and advocacy because women care about blood, flesh, and pain and, unlike earlier generations of animal activists, no longer are seen as a liability to the success of the movement.
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Acknowledging the “Zoological Connection”: A Sociological Analysis of Animal Cruelty

Clifton P. Flynn

Sociologists have largely ignored the role of animals in society. This article argues that human-animal interaction is a topic worthy of sociological consideration and applies a sociological analysis to one problematic aspect of human-animal relationships? animal cruelty. The article reformulates animal cruelty, traditionally viewed using a psychopathological model, from a sociological perspective. The article identifies social and cultural factors related to the occurrence of animal cruelty. Ultimately, animal cruelty is a serious social problem that deserves attention in its own right, not just because of its association with human violence.
 

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