Constructed Lives: How Human Culture Shapes the Lives of Companion Animals

• In Event: 2112 - Section on Animals and Society Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Animals, Culture and Capital

Abstract

This study explores the experiences of companion animals (dogs and cats) within households, based on the socially constructed realities of their human companions. By examining the way humans shape interaction with their companion (pets) as well as their expectation for responses from their pets, we gain a better understanding of the human-animal relationship. Beyond that interaction, however, exists a host of other human realities through which pets inherit their experiences. In other words, human cultural experiences are shaped by age, education, gender, income, race-ethnicity, and the transmission of culture through socialization from one generation to the next. All of these factors are explored in an effort to determine the influence of human cultural experiences on the interaction between humans and their companion animals. This study further examines the impact human culture has on the wellbeing of pets from one generation to the next – some factors being more relevant than others. A review of literature will examine previous research from the perspectives of social construction, human-animal interaction, and cultural influence of humans on pets. Additionally, qualitative data and limited quantitative data from a previous study, consisting of interviews and surveys, will help to corroborate the assertion that humans do indeed have a substantial cultural impact on their companion animals.

Author

• Erin Nicole Kidder, University of Central Florida