ABSTRACT
Animals play significant roles in the origins and existence of what we know as “society.” The domestication of animals initiated agriculture (Anderson, 2006). The products of their bodies constitute the basis of our economy in the form of meat, eggs, dairy products, leather, cosmetics, soap, toiletries, and medications-items so ingrained in daily life that most people scarcely think of their sources. Animals appear in our rituals, religions, stories, myths, and legends. Our language contains countless animal references, including “ponytail,” “buck teeth,” “lame duck,” and “chicken” (Bryant, 1979). Animals figure heavily in many social problems, including epidemic diseases such as influenza (Diamond, 1999), illegal activities such as dog fighting (Kalof and Taylor, 2007), and natural disasters, which can result in large numbers of abandoned pets and stranded livestock (Irvine, 2009). As pets, animals provide unique relationships. A majority of North American households includes dogs and cats, and birds, and nearly half consider these animals family members (AVMA, 2012). Over the past two decades, sociologists have gradually begun to include animals in their analyses. York and Mancus have argued that,
we cannot properly understand sociocultural evolution, the emergence of civilizations, or other aspects of social history without recognizing the importance of animals to societies, the distinctive features of various species of animals, and the distribution and translocation of animal species across the globe.
