Posted: December 2nd, 2022

Animal Rights Movement

Animal Rights Movement

The Animal Rights (AR) movement is a social movement that opposes animal exploitation in research, food and clothing industries, and entertainment. The movements are also known as Animal Liberation, Animal Personhood, and Animal Advocacy. The movement for human rights. Animal rights have a rich intellectual history that dates back to Albert Schweitzer, Plato, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, and Albert Einstein (Munro, 2011). A formalized movement to preserve animal rights began at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. Several states in the United States and the United Kingdom have passed animal cruelty legislation. Anti-vivisection (animal research) movements arose at the same time as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was established. The modern animal rights movement began in the 1970s, with the publication of Animal Liberation by ethicist Peter Singer. The animal rights movement was founded primarily to end animal cruelty. The movement considered animals to be “beyond use” by humans. The movement aimed to put an end to exploitative factories and other abuses such as whaling, testing, and puppy mills (Munro, 2012). Animal rights proponents wish to see non-human animals treated humanely, with no unnecessary suffering; yet, animals can be used for human purposes such as entertainment, clothing, and food. According to Turner and Killian, animal rights activists utilize a variety of methods to attain their goals, including bargaining, facilitation, coercion, and persuasion (Munro, 2011).
Like other social movements, the animal rights movement has a lifecycle. A social movement’s lifecycle includes the stages of emergence, coalescence, bureaucratization, and demise.
Finally, I believe that a successful animal rights movement will be able to fight for the achievement of a nearly vegan society. Given the health concerns, there is a strong case to be made for a vegan lifestyle, and the animal rights movement may profit on this.
References Munro, L. (2011). Strategies, action repertoires, and DIY activism in the animal rights movement. Social Movement Studies, 4(1), 75-94.
Munro, L. (2012). The animal rights movement in theory and practice: A review of the sociological literature. Sociology Compass, 6(2), 166-181.
Finsen, S., & Finsen, L. (1994). The animal rights movement in America: From compassion to respect. Twayne Publishers.