Societal Sentience: Constructions of the Public in Animal Research Policy and Practice

Science, Technology & Human Values
Pru Hobson-West, Ashley Davies

Abstract

The use of nonhuman animals as models in research and drug testing is a key route through which contemporary scientific knowledge is certified. Given ethical concerns, regulation of animal research promotes the use of less "sentient" animals. This paper draws on a documentary analysis of legal documents and qualitative interviews with Named Veterinary Surgeons and others at a commercial laboratory in the UK. Its key claim is that the concept of animal sentience is entangled with a particular imaginary of how the general public or wider society views animals. We call this imaginary societal sentience. Against a backdrop of increasing ethnographic work on care encounters in the laboratory, this concept helps to stress the wider context within which such encounters take place. We conclude that societal sentience has potential purchase beyond the animal research field, in helping to highlight the affective dimension of public imaginaries and their ethical consequences. Researching and critiquing societal sentience, we argue, may ultimately have more impact on the fate of humans and nonhumans in the laboratory than focusing wholly on ethics as situated practice.

References

Jan 1, 1995·Society & Animals : Social Scientific Studies of the Human Experience of Other Animals·Elizabeth S Paul
Sep 15, 2004·Science, Technology & Human Values·N Brown, M Michael
Aug 10, 2006·Mycopathologia·M S MoraesO Fischman
Aug 29, 2006·Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics·Rebecca L Walker
Oct 4, 2006·Child Abuse & Neglect·David Conrad, Yvonne Kellar-Guenther
Dec 23, 2006·Sociology of Health & Illness·Steven P WainwrightAlan Cribb
Dec 23, 2009·Journal of Medical Ethics·P Hobson-West
Mar 25, 2010·Alternatives to Laboratory Animals : ATLA·Pru Hobson-West
Oct 11, 2012·Public Understanding of Science·Tora Holmberg, Malin Ideland
Feb 13, 2013·Alternatives to Laboratory Animals : ATLA·Joanna Cruden
Jan 18, 2014·Public Understanding of Science·Helga Nowotny
Jun 20, 2014·Animal Cognition·Culum Brown
Jan 1, 2014·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·John Webster
Jun 2, 2016·Epigenetics : Official Journal of the DNA Methylation Society·Zhiyuan ChenRocío M Rivera
Aug 1, 2012·Sociology·Pru Hobson-West
Jul 17, 2018·Science, Technology & Human Values·Carmen McLeod, Sarah Hartley

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Nov 5, 2019·The British Journal of Sociology·Carrie FrieseJuan Pablo Pardo-Guerra
Dec 11, 2019·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Reuben Message, Beth Greenhough
Oct 28, 2019·Sociology of Health & Illness·Pru Hobson-West, Annemarie Jutel
Oct 16, 2020·History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences·Tarquin Holmes, Carrie Friese

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Software Mentioned

ANT
ASPA

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Addiction

This feed focuses mechanisms underlying addiction and addictive behaviour including heroin and opium dependence, alcohol intoxication, gambling, and tobacco addiction.

Related Papers

Journal of Pediatric Health Care : Official Publication of National Association of Pediatric Nurse Associates & Practitioners
Juanita Conkin Dale
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
S Short, G Palmer
The Veterinary Record
Ryan Waters
© 2022 Meta ULC. All rights reserved