Linking Animal Cruelty and Family Violence By Lisa Anne Zilney

Anthrozoology (ISAZ), the recently established Animals & Society section of the American Sociological Association, and Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, to name a few organizations. Despite this recent inclusion, not all scholars are supportive of this new area of inquiry, as evidenced by Charles Perrow: “I am alarmed to see sociological energies going into the formation of a new section in the ASA [American Sociological Association]. It is part of the drift from human poverty and social injustice to such boutique issues as animal rights” (Perrow 2000: 473). Note that aside from a few exceptions, the classification of animals into the sphere of “nature” is quite ambiguous, with animals frequently left out of environmental discourse altogether, ⁴ and when included in criminological literature are included as objects of study only via their importance for humans.

In addition, scholarly articles are being published in journals such as Society & Animals, Anthrozoos, Animal Liberation Philosophy and Policy Journal, and selected general sociological and criminological periodicals. Remarkably, the mass of the sociological and criminological literature ignores those animals that are incorporated into so many facets of human life, the policy-making realm, and the practice of everyday life. For Cazaux (1998): “... transcending these 'borders,' while adopting a nonspeciesist perspective will lead not only to a better understanding of the practices of objectification and domination of 'non-human' animals, but also—following the path of the interconnectedness of different lines of oppression and patterns of exclusion—