Summary
Through investigating the inclusion of animals in the field of sociology, the author reviews literature to outline four possible paths which researchers are currently using to include animals in their work: (1) analyzing interspecies relations, (2) studying animals as an oppressed group, (3) investigating the social and ecological impacts of animal agriculture, and (4) analyzing social-ecological networks (i.e. human and non-human interactions), such as the relationship between humans, plants and pollinators. The understanding gained from the four pathways of sociological inclusion of animals is limited as it is not an exhaustive review of available literature; the purpose of the investigation was merely to illustrate some key ways in which sociologists can bring animals into their research. Despite this limitation, this review is strengthened through the in-depth analysis the author uses when surveying literature. The author advocates that to tackle non-human exclusion from sociology, researchers should align with the commitments to the recent movement for the creation of a more comprehensive sociology that recognises human’s relations with non-humans as cohabitants.
How do we include animals in sociology? Although sociology’s initial avoidance of the nonhuman world may have been necessary to the field’s development, recent scholarship – within mainstream sociology, environmental sociology and animal-centred research – is helping expand the field’s horizons. With a focus on variety, this article reviews four key paths that researchers are taking to include animals in their research: (1) studying interspecies relations, (2) theorizing animals as an oppressed group, (3) investigating the social and ecological impacts of animal agriculture and (4) analysing social-ecological networks. This review shows how applying – and innovating – existing social theories and research methods allows researchers to include animals in their analyses and will be relevant to a variety of scholars, including mainstream and environmental sociologists, animal-focused researchers and social network analysts, to name a few.