Deconstructing the Beast

DECONSTRUCTING THE BEAST CONTEMPORARY REPRESENTATIONS AND DISCOURSES ON THE NATURE OF ANIMALS IN URBAN BRITAIN Gemma Clare HARPER Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Social Psychology London School of Economics and Political Science University of London March 1998 UMI Number: U615813 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615813 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 c /!+£St i F 1S1+ ^ 1 3 3 9 To Sula I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference. (from The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost 1874 - 1963) ABSTRACT This thesis explores contemporary representations and discourses on the nature of animals through the development and investigation of the psychodynamics of dehumanisation. Psychodynamics integrates the discursive structuring of knowledge with the psychoanalytical defence mechanisms of projection and introjection. Hollway’s (1989) theory of psychodynamic investment is applied here to account for the reproduction of species-differentiated beliefs and behaviours. This provides the parameters for a model of dehumanisation which is the referent for the empirical exploration. The methodological approach employed centres on triangulation. Semi-structured interviews with vegetarians and non-vegetarians are discourse analysed to reveal patterns of naturalisation in the production of social meanings and the participation in social practices. The analysis reveals the content of the psychodynamic investments in three hegemonic discourses: nonhuman animals as Objects, Referents and Utensils. In order to explore representations of the referent, ‘beast’, newspaper articles are semiologically content analysed. This analysis identifies aspects of human experience which are projected onto nonhuman animal representations, through anthropomorphism and zoomorphism. To explore one example of these metaphors, the fantasy ‘beast’, a semiotic analysis of narrative was conducted onWilderness , the book and derived drama, further articulating the symbolic dimension of irresolute species boundaries in a modem twist on the lycanthropic myth. The model of dehumanisation is developed to interpret the analysis of the texts. Deconstruction of these texts provide evidence for the anthropocentric, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic dialectics of self: other reflected in the violent construction of human versus nonhuman animal identity. The synthesised model of dehumanisation illustrates both the human desire to acknowledge and oppress nonhuman animals and the ubiquitous ‘beast within’, as part of the psychodynamic construction of subjectivity. In conclusion, the deconstructed ‘beast’ is revealed as a modern-day ideological chimera which signifies the ambivalence of humans’ understanding of themselves as animals. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge my supervisor, Patrick Humphreys, for throwing me in at the deep end and letting me swim freestyle - thanks for the intellectual floats. I am indebted to Jan Stockdale, my unofficial mentor, for her open office door. I would also like to thank Rob Farr and Sandra Jovechelovitch for their comments on early draft chapters, and the interview participants who provided me with such a wealth of data. Furthermore, I am grateful to those authors, whose work I cite, for providing the inspiration to conceive, develop and complete this research. Thanks are also due to my family for their love, support and lessons in life: my parents, Ron and Sula Chance, my brother, John Harper, and my sisters: Rachel, for various rescue missions and, especially, for her laughter; and Jackie, who may know more on these matters than I could ever imagine. This research was also made possible through the financial support and encouragement from my father, Charles Harper, and an awarded grant from the Economic and Social Research Council. To my grandparents, present and past, thanks for providing me with such a loving family. Thanks for their generous help and constructive criticism to all my LSE colleagues and friends, especially Danielle Aron and Gemma Penn, who have provided academic and moral support, often in the form of gossip, drinks and good humour. My thanks also extend to the members of the Darwin@LSE Work in Progress Group who led me to Darwin’s words:Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work worthy the interposition of a deity. More humble and I think truer to consider him created from animals. To my partners in life, the universe and everything: Dawn and Paul Hollidge, Nicky Fraser, Dipti Thakar, Alok Gangola, Nav Dhaliwal and all my friends who’ve seen me through various trials and tribulations - the drinks are on me! Thanks, especially, to Roz Harper for her academic insights, brilliant friendship and great cooking. Most of all, I thank Rajeshpal Sangha, as many words as there are here could not define just what you mean to me. TABLE of CONTENTS Page TITLE ............................................................................................................................. 1 DEDICATION 2 ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ 4 Chapter 1 THE NATURE OF THE BEAST Outline................................................................................................................. 10 1.1 Psychodynamic Constructions ............................................................................ 15 1.2 Terminology ........................................................................................................ 18 1.3 Overview................................................................................................................ 21 PART ONE CONSTRUCTING THE BEAST 28 Chapter 2 THE STRUCTURALIST FRAMEWORK Overview...............................................................................................................29 2.1 Human and Animal Identities.................................................................................30 Subject-Object Relations ..........................................................................30 The Hierarchical Nature of Definition.......................................................32 Social Hierarchy ........................................................................................ 34 The Invisibility of Violence....................................................................... 36 2.2 The Social Psychology of Identity .........................................................................38 Social Identity Theory ..............................................................................38 Social Representations..............................................................................39 2.3 Structural Linguistics: Signifying Animals ............................................................ 44 The Meaning of Myth................................................................................46 Structural Anthropology ............................................................................47 Discussion.......................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 3 THE HISTORICAL BEAST Overview............................................................................................................... 56 3.1 Animal as th e‘Other’ ............................................................................................. 57 The Industrial and Scientific Revolutions................................................. 57 Victorian Sentimentality and the Growth of the Humane Movement . 62 3.2 From Animal Welfare to Animal Rights ................................................................ 64 Darwinism ................................................................................................ 64 The Growth of Animal Welfare into Animal Rights..................................70 The Philosophy of Animal R ights............................................................. 73 3.3 The Modem Animal Rights Movement.................................................................. 77 Feminism and Animal Rights..................................................................... 77 The Issue of Social Relations ................................................................... 80 Discussion.............................................................................................................83 -5- Chapter 4 THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF DEHUMANISATION Overview............................................................................................................. 86 4.1 The Symbiotic Foundations of Prejudice................................................................ 87 The Speciesist Structure of Prejudice ......................................................

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