The Animal Rights Challenge, By Kim Stallwood (Part 4)
This blog post discusses the fourth installment of Kim Stallwood’s presentation at the Minding Animals Conference in London (serialized on grumpyvegan.com). Stallwood continues his analysis of the animal rights movement by reviewing it in the broader context of five stages that he believes are common to all social movements. He then translates the five stages into the specific example of opposition to hunting in Britain.
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The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once said that “All truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident.” With this as a backdrop, the animal rights movement could be said to be somewhere between the first and second stage. But Stallwood, who has studied the progression of various successful social movements, adds a couple of stages. He believes there are five basic stages that successful movements pass through “from obscurity to victory.”
The five stages of social movements are:
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Stallwood then adds:
Most issues start in stage one and expand to the others but not always in a clear sequential order. As it progresses through each stage, an issue’s influence and resistance to setbacks increases proportionately. Further, the role of animal advocates must also expand from the Caring Sleuth, formed by the personal transformative moment, to also include the role of public policy maker in order to make animal rights a mainstream political issue. |
In the U.S., most animal advocacy currently resides firmly in the first stage, public education. Successful legislative and legal efforts are becoming more common and our policy work is becoming more sophisticated, but we still have a long way to go. The lessons we have learned by trying to educate “the general public” can serve us well when we shift our attention to educating decision-makers. These may include leaders in business, government, academia, and other social movements, among others. Stallwood provides an example from Britain that outlines his five stages of social movements:
Hunting in Britain, for example, existed in stage one (public education), for decades with occasional success in stage two, public policy (e.g., opposition from county councils). After many attempts at legislation in Parliament (stage three) as private members bills, the passage of the government (non-opposition) backing of the Hunting Act 2004 triggered the next stage, stage four, litigation. Pro-bloodsports enthusiasts failed in their attempts to sue the government in the House of Lords and for civil liberties in the European Court of Human Rights. The abolition of bloodsports has enjoyed public support (stage five) for many years; however, a law is only a law as long as the legislation is on the statute books… |
Which animal issues have achieved similar success in the United States? Perhaps animal fighting, but that is the only example I can think of right now. Some of the worst practices are being prohibited by state and local governments or initiatives, but many of the most egregious practices remain federally lawful. This is largely because the animal industries and their lobbyists currently hold much more sway than animal advocates when it comes to key political decisions. For advocates to be successful for animals, all of this needs to change, and it must start by moving beyond stage one, public education.