Silence and Denial in Everyday Life—The Case of Animal Suffering

How can we make sense of the fact that we live in a world where good people co-exist in silence about widespread animal suffering. How is it that sites of suffering such as laboratories, factory farms, abattoirs and animal transportation are all around us and yet we ‘do not, in a certain sense, know...

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Main Author: Deidre Wicks
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2011-02-01
Series:Animals
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/1/1/186/
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spelling doaj-66882d23c97d46cab96612d0af3ddab12020-11-24T21:12:00ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152011-02-011118619910.3390/ani1010186Silence and Denial in Everyday Life—The Case of Animal SufferingDeidre WicksHow can we make sense of the fact that we live in a world where good people co-exist in silence about widespread animal suffering. How is it that sites of suffering such as laboratories, factory farms, abattoirs and animal transportation are all around us and yet we ‘do not, in a certain sense, know about them’ [1]. This ‘not knowing’ is one of the most difficult barriers for animal activists who must constantly develop new strategies in an attempt to catch public attention and translate it into action. Recent contributions from the ‘sociology of denial’ have elucidated many of the mechanisms involved in ‘not knowing’ in relation to human atrocities and genocide. In this context, ‘denial’ refers to the maintenance of social worlds in which an undesirable situation is unrecognized, ignored or made to seem normal [2]. These include different types of denial: personal, official and cultural, as well as the process of normalization whereby suffering becomes invisible through routinization, tolerance, accommodation, collusion and cover up. Denial and normalization reflect both personal and collective states where suffering is not acknowledged [3]. In this paper, I will examine insights from the sociology of denial and apply them to human denial and normalization of animal suffering. This will include an examination of denial which is both individual and social and the implications of these insights for theory and practice in the human/animal relationship. http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/1/1/186/silencedenialculturetaboopassive bystanderemotional managementsocial censorshipnormalizationcollective endeavour
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Deidre Wicks
spellingShingle Deidre Wicks
Silence and Denial in Everyday Life—The Case of Animal Suffering
Animals
silence
denial
culture
taboo
passive bystander
emotional management
social censorship
normalization
collective endeavour
author_facet Deidre Wicks
author_sort Deidre Wicks
title Silence and Denial in Everyday Life—The Case of Animal Suffering
title_short Silence and Denial in Everyday Life—The Case of Animal Suffering
title_full Silence and Denial in Everyday Life—The Case of Animal Suffering
title_fullStr Silence and Denial in Everyday Life—The Case of Animal Suffering
title_full_unstemmed Silence and Denial in Everyday Life—The Case of Animal Suffering
title_sort silence and denial in everyday life—the case of animal suffering
publisher MDPI AG
series Animals
issn 2076-2615
publishDate 2011-02-01
description How can we make sense of the fact that we live in a world where good people co-exist in silence about widespread animal suffering. How is it that sites of suffering such as laboratories, factory farms, abattoirs and animal transportation are all around us and yet we ‘do not, in a certain sense, know about them’ [1]. This ‘not knowing’ is one of the most difficult barriers for animal activists who must constantly develop new strategies in an attempt to catch public attention and translate it into action. Recent contributions from the ‘sociology of denial’ have elucidated many of the mechanisms involved in ‘not knowing’ in relation to human atrocities and genocide. In this context, ‘denial’ refers to the maintenance of social worlds in which an undesirable situation is unrecognized, ignored or made to seem normal [2]. These include different types of denial: personal, official and cultural, as well as the process of normalization whereby suffering becomes invisible through routinization, tolerance, accommodation, collusion and cover up. Denial and normalization reflect both personal and collective states where suffering is not acknowledged [3]. In this paper, I will examine insights from the sociology of denial and apply them to human denial and normalization of animal suffering. This will include an examination of denial which is both individual and social and the implications of these insights for theory and practice in the human/animal relationship.
topic silence
denial
culture
taboo
passive bystander
emotional management
social censorship
normalization
collective endeavour
url http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/1/1/186/
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