Speciesism. Discrimination of animals

Essay from the year 2021 in the subject Philosophy - General Essays, Eras, grade: 1,7, University of Kent, language: English, abstract: This essay will apply various theories from social psychology to the human-animal relationship and argue that speciesism is a form of prejudice. It will conclude by using the findings to develop intervention concepts to reduce speciesism.

Human relationships with non-human animals are complicated. On the one hand, certain animals are valued as pets, loved and given a standard of living that is better than that of humans in poor countries. Archaeologists even found that at one point in human history, dogs were buried with humans for sentimental reasons in some cultures, highlighting the close bond between humans and their companion animals. On the other hand, farm animals are slaughtered so that their bodies provide meat that humans can consume. The term speciesism emerged and in particular parallels other forms of unjustified discrimination such as racism and sexism. Philosophers realised the inconsistency in our treatment of animals a while ago, now it is time for social psychology to bring the human- animal relationship into its theoretical framework, as this relationship is strongly social and intergroup based.