Conclusions: Sociology for Other Animals

Abstract

As we have seen, societies are broader than the human. Back in the 1970s, Bryant (1979) argued that other animals play important roles in society and, consequently, are relevant for sociological study. His zoological connection revealed a range of ways in which other animals are central to human societies, and the preceding chapters have shown that this is indeed the case. Other animals are everywhere. Other animals are central to every aspect of our lives: in what we say and what we do; in what we eat and what we wear; in our industry and in our leisure time; in what we worship and what we despise; in how we progress and how we do not. Other animals are central to who we think we are and who we think we are not. Moreover, we are central to the lives of other animals, most notably in our oppression of them. We take away their selves, take away their space, take away their freedom and take away their lives; yet still they seem invisible to us. Sociology is part of the seeing of other animals and, although still somewhat marginal to sociology, that sociological seeing is changing things in sociology. However, it is not just seeing other animals that should be a central component of sociology; the role of sociology in countering the oppression of other animals is also pertinent. This returns me to Bryant.