Kellie Burch

Dr. Price
Sociology 001
15 November 2020

Video Comparison to Goffman, Marx and Durkheim

In the TEDx Talk given by Paul Shapiro titled “What Will Future Generations Think of

Our Treatment of Animals?”, Mr. Shapiro discusses the question of how our descendants will

view the way we handle animals in our current society. We can view this video with a variety of

sociological perspectives from Goffman, Mark and Durkheim. The presentation is a clear

representation of the Social Conflict paradigm showing the conflict between those that have

power, and those that do not.

Mr. Shapiro opens his presentation by painting a picture of how our ancestors had

socially accepted views that our current day society would find shocking. He gives examples of

how they thought owning another person was tolerable, how it was against nature for women to

vote, and how child labor was widely accepted. The recognition that our society’s moral concern

for humanity has expanded to include rights for those that previously had none and that this

moral concern should continue to grow.

He then presents the question of how our future generations will view the way that we

treat animals simply because they cannot speak for themselves. He suspects that our descendants

will not agree that it is acceptable to cage animals in spaces that are barely larger than their

bodies or that we genetically manipulate animals to grow larger and faster than what is natural.

He then encourages our current generation to push our moral concern out to include species other

than humans. He recognizes that this only happens when “big people stand up for those with
little power”. He hopes that our current generation can be the one to understand and accept that

animals deserve a much kinder society than the one we have given them so far.

Sociologist Erving Goffman established the dramaturgical perspective which is the idea

that individuals interact as if they are on stage seeking to put on a successful performance. Using

this perspective of self, one can make that assumption that the way we treat animals is

determined by what is deemed acceptable in common society. If we think back during the times

of slavery, it was commonplace to own a person so there was no fear of being viewed negatively

if you had a slave. Society then challenged this and if someone owned a slave now, they would

not only be judged harshly, but there would be legal consequences. If we take this view and

apply it to the way that we treat animals, it is currently acceptable to keep animals in cages such

as in a zoo. However, if animal rights continue to expand, then the assumption can be made that

when it becomes socially wrong to cage animals, organizations such as zoos will change their

way of animal treatment to better reflect what is socially acceptable. Goffman describes this

modification of the presentation to one’s self as impression management. When one changes

their actions in order to “save face” and avoid public embarrassment by treating animals different

than they have previously, they are following the face-work process.

Sociologist Karl Marx theorized that social inequality is determined by ownership, or

lack thereof, of key material resources. From a Marxist perspective, the inequality of how

animals are treated are inevitable because animals do not have the ability to transform raw

materials into products, they only have their animal instincts. I would assume that Marx would

find it difficult for the way that animals are treated to be changed greatly unless the individuals

that with the power to establish these changes were backing it. According to Marx, the one with

the highest power and most resources are the ones that establish how social order is maintained.
Therefore, if the population of these individuals found that treating animals differently was of

importance, then it may change.

Emile Durkheim was a sociologist that theorized society was an external force that

existed outside of the individual, but that individuals were influenced by the forces of society,

rather than society being influenced by the individuals. From the Durkheim perspective, social

facts are external manners of acting, thinking, and feeling that have the coercive power to shape

how we act, think, and feel. Therefore, in order for society to adjust the way that it treats

animals, the social facts would need to be reflect that animals need to have more rights than they

currently do. According to Durkheim, our current social order is seen as organic solidarity in

which there is a mutual interdependence among us and how society functions. Therefore, if we

tried to change animal rights, there are many levels and working parts that would need to be

adjusted for the change to happen. We are reliant on all parts working together in order to be a

prosperous society, so it would need to make sense as a whole to adjust animal rights. A small

group of individuals will not have the power to make this change but if the whole of society is

able to adjust their values over time, then the treatment of animals can change.

The Social Conflict paradigm focuses on power and the allocation of valued resources in

society. This is the paradigm that is most represented in this video because it assumes society is a

complex system characterized by inequality and that conflict generates social change. Mr.

Shapiro recognizes the inequality with how animals are being treated is a conflict in society and

it would take action from those with power to change how animals are being unfairly treated. If

we want to accomplish creating more rights for animals, it will only be done by most of the

population demanding it be so.

 There is hope that in future generations, they will fight to give animals more rights than

they are awarded today. However, for these changes to occur, it will take the majority of society

to fight for it. It has been done in the past with different inequalities and it can be done again. If

society continues the trajectory of establishing more rights to those that do not have them, then

one can conclude that in the future animals will also benefit from these changes in society.
 Works Cited

“What Will Future Generations Think of Our Treatment of Animals?” Performance by Paul
Shapiro, TEDx Talks, 6 Sept. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6w3A7E1Hw8