Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
with us and Bob took that, took the little four- or five-year-old boy and
mauled his head. They were Latinos, the little boy, and the parents were good
friends of my parents. But about two or three days later, the dog came up
missing and we didn't understand it at the time but, of course, that father
killed that dog…. So that's, I think that's why I don't, I'm very sure about
animals being inferior to humans and that humans come first because animals
have always been our servants…. I don't remember even ever being concerned
with animals.
The story is illuminating on several counts. The perception by Alice of the
inferiority of animals, one that emerges in many of her comments, may have come
directly from her father. Combined with the earlier discussion of her father's work
in the slaughterhouse, a picture emerges of a childhood in which the father's work,
both occupationally and at home, and his approach towards animals within a
necessarily utilitarian value system resulted in the hierarchical, survivalist approach
towards animals that Alice embraces. In Alice's narratives, household survival was of
immediate consequence and consumable animals and their products (in this
instance, eggs) played a critical role to the family's persistence and well-being.
Benjamin, by 'sucking eggs', was perceived as a direct competitor for family food
and, therefore, was likely seen as undermining the household's health and welfare.
In times of such resource constraints, cultural constructions (in this case, the idea of
pet who is not to be eaten) become negotiable and, in certain instances, will likely
dissolve altogether. Benjamin was no longer pet but 'pest', and was treated
accordingly.
Alice also argued that animals are inherently inferior to humans, and justified her
attitudes on the basis of religious beliefs rooted in deeply entrenched notions of a
'chain of being' extending from God, to 'man', and finally down to animals. With
this rationale, which implies that human needs come before those of animals, she
had no trouble articulating a clear remedy for perceived problems such as predators
venturing into the suburbs. Her suggestion was to 'have open season' on the animals
in question, so that there would be 'so many men with guns they'd be up there and
they'd be rid of ' em in less than a year'. In an interesting contradiction, however,
Alice was the most educated of the group, and had lived in at least four distinct
regions of the country, two of which are urbanised (New York City and Los
Angeles). This warns us that attitudes cannot be 'read off' from a small number of
individual characteristics, but instead must always be understood as evolving within
a more complex socio-cultural and individual biographical context.
Biocentrism
Biocentric attitudes were not necessarily predicated on the basis of the past research
cited above. Such attitudes were found to be uncommon among African-Americans
(Kellert and Berry 1980), as were concerns for wildlife or natural habitat (Dolin
1988). But they emerged swiftly in our focus group discussion. For example, Alice
