ABSTRACT
The first societies dedicated to animal protection were notable for the respectability and prestige of their supporters, the high membership fees putting off less wealthy potential members. In the 1830s the RSPCA could boast as members not only Queen Victoria but also her mother, the Duchess of Kent, as well as numerous eminent and rich individuals, including the fabulously wealthy Quaker banker Samuel Gurney (Turner, 1980, p. 44). The Parisian SPA, for its part, enjoyed the support of such prominent personages as Prince Jerome Napoleon and his sister Princess Matilda, Prince Adalbert of Bavaria, Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia and the bankers James and Arthur de Rothschild, as well as Alexis de Tocqueville (Fleury, 1995). This would indicate that any investigation of the sociogenesis of animal protection needs to analyze the evolution of the emotions and conduct accepted and valued by the upper echelons of society. In this connection the work of Elias once more provides a particularly pertinent and didactic theoretical framework.
