LOJK10281U Animals in Society

This course focuses on the role of animals in society. Relations to animals are complex – animals are not ‘just out there in Nature’. Animals are used in food production to the benefit of man and serve as research animals in the medical sector. Moreover, animals are used in nature preservation, as companion animals and in competitive sports, but they also serve as prey for anglers and hunters. Often, these different relations to animals cause conflicts over how or indeed if we should use animals and thus highlight how different stakeholders represent different interests. The course will explore the economic and sociological aspects of such relations between humans and animals.

Sociology of animals in society

This element concerns sociological aspects of the use of animals. Departing in salient issues where conflicts over the use of animals can be observed, it will be discussed how different societal actors (including e.g. farmers, consumers, citizens, vegans, vivisectionists, etc.) view and legitimize the use of animals for different purposes - and the values these different perspectives represent. During the lectures and exercises the students will be presented to a number of sociological concepts and theories that can be used to describe and understand human uses of animals. All in all this will offer insights in the importance of different sociodemographic, cultural, religious and historical background factors, that can be used in the study of disagreements over animal uses.

Economics of animals in society

Can we leave it to consumers’ demand to secure animal welfare? Which methods can be used to elicit the economic value of the use of animals? These and other questions related to the economic aspects of using animals are discussed in the course. We introduce economic aspects of the use of animals focusing on how different perceptions of animal welfare can be included in economic analyses. The point of departure is a discussion of how the keeping of animals can be analysed in consumers’ utility maximizing and/or producers’ profit maximizing framework. Using the concept of market failure, economic arguments for regulating animal welfare are presented and discussed.