Summary
In an attempt to understand the social construction of the value of wildlife, the authors look to the history of wildlife trade and suggest the integration of a green criminological approach to understand the concept of wildlife consumerism. Wildlife consumerism has moved into the sphere of people from all aspects of society, not just the elite, where wild animals and their products are traded for function, symbolism or social purposes. The global value assigned to the commodification of wild animals allows for Western society to influence the demand and trends of wildlife and products associated with them. The author’s deconstruction of the value of wildlife is successful in highlighting the influence which trends dictate for the future of animal consumerism. Therefore the value of wildlife commodities is dependent upon the assigned human attributions (e.g. shark fin soup – considered as having medicinal purposes).The investigation suggests that a movement to change social attitudes concerning how animals are viewed and valued is the only way to stop the demand for animal consumerism.
The trade in wildlife is not a new phenomenon. The earliest civilizations were linked to the trade in live animals and parts thereof, from the Egyptian pharaohs to aristocrats in the modern era. This article focuses on the history of the wildlife trade in order to understand the social construction of the value of wildlife. In dynamic social and cultural contexts, the meaning of wildlife changes. Historically, exotic animals and the products thereof were associated with social elites, but today, wildlife attracts people from all walks of life and a wide variety of live animals and products thereof are traded for functional, symbolic and social purposes. Increasing ecocentric and biocentric values in contemporary western society, however, may influence constructed demand patterns for wildlife in the near future. By integrating cultural criminological concepts with the social construction of green crimes, this article aims to understand constructed wildlife consumerism through the ages.