What is speciesism?
Speciesism is an ideology that makes discrimination against the members of other species seem normal and natural. We’re socialized from birth to see human characteristics and abilities as the ideal standard against which all others are measured. It’s so embedded in our culture and in our thinking that it seems natural and inevitable to discriminate against others. But when we really try to justify it, we can’t. The value of other animals does not depend on how similar they are to humans any more than the value of women is dependent on how similar they are to men or the value of people of color is dependent on how similar they are to white people.
Definitions of Speciesism
I use the word ‘speciesism’ to describe the widespread discrimination that is practised by man against other species … Speciesism is discrimination, and like all discrimination it overlooks or underestimates the similarities between the discriminator and those discriminated against.
Since then, others have proposed their own definitions of speciesism. Most of these were critiqued by Joan Dunayer in her book, Speciesism. She offers the following definition:
A failure, in attitude or or practice, to accord any nonhuman being equal consideration and respect.
There are (at least) three ways of looking at speciesism:
Psychological: individually held prejudice
Prejudice is primarily a psychological term. It refers to an individual’s belief and can provide a justification for discriminating against others. There was a time when racism was considered a psychological disorder, but now racism and other “isms” like sexism, heterosexism and speciesism are more often viewed in a wider social context.
Philosophical: discrimination
Moral philosophy considers the morality of actions and looks at speciesism in terms of whether or not speciesist actions (discrimination) are justified. The determination that speciesism is unjustified would be true whether there were prejudice involved or not.
Note: “unjustified disadvantageous consideration or treatment” is just a more technical way of saying discrimination.
According to this definition, trying to justify discrimination against other animals because they are not smart in the way humans are or because they don’t have relationships with humans is speciesism, even if an appeal to species membership is never made.
Discrimination is based on judging others not for who they are but for what they are not. Speciesism is discrimination against those who don’t belong to a certain species. The lives and experiences of nonhuman animals are usually considered less important than human lives simply because they are not like humans. Yet nonhuman animals have emotional lives and feel pain, pleasure, fear and joy. Devaluing their lives simply because they don’t have some characteristics that most humans have is discrimination.
Every characteristic and circumstance that is used to discriminate against nonhuman animals — rationality, language ability, social connections — also applies to some humans. Yet we don’t use those things to measure the worth of humans. The reason we try not to harm other humans is because they can feel and suffer.
The most common manifestation of speciesism is moral anthropocentrism, which is the devaluation of the interests of those who don’t belong to the human species. But speciesism includes favoring some nonhuman species over others. For example, usually greater moral consideration is given to dogs than pigs, simply because dogs belong to a certain species and pigs do not.
Sociological: shared ideology
Currently the “isms” including racism, sexism, heterosexism and speciesism are most often viewed as social problems and are looked at from a sociological perspective, which sees them as shared belief systems that give rise to and reinforce prejudices and legitimate discrimination. Sociologist David Nibert explains:
Sociologists no longer look for the causes of oppression in individual beliefs, attitudes and actions. They tend to view prejudice (an individual attitude) and discrimination (such as mistreatment) as outgrowths of oppressive ideologies. Prejudice and discrimination support and perpetuate the ideologies, but do not cause them. Sociologists stress the social structural and economic nature of oppression. They examine the unequal relationships and institutional and organizational discrimination that emerge as a result.
It takes a powerful set of beliefs to make wildly inconsistent attitudes and actions seems acceptable. Ideological conditioning suppresses the natural empathy people feel and makes the oppression of others seem normal, natural, and sometimes even to the benefit of the oppressed. Oppressive arrangements arise not only due to the self-interest of individuals, but also as the result of ideological conditioning by the economic elite who use mass media to frame issues, set topics and bounds of conversation, and influence the behavior of others.
These three approaches to understanding speciesism are complementary.
What Speciesism Looks Like
Some species are favored over others
Nonhuman animals are commodities
Property rights are more important than preventing animal cruelty
Trivial human interests matter more than the wellbeing of other animals
Conflicts of interest are ignored
The greatest source of suffering in the world is overlooked
