Human and nonhuman animal rights and oppression: An evolution toward equality

Abstract

This paper is about oppression, a commonly-studied social phenomenon, but from the unusual perspective of the relationship between humans and nonhuman animals. Those with greater social and economic power are positioned too press, to define personal and social worth, and to deny basic and privileges. Some humans are more oppressed than others; for example, women, racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, the differently-abled, children, the aged, and prisoners. I describe stereotypes and unfair treatment as they are similarly applied to disadvantages of humans and nonhuman animals. A primary obstacle in discussing nonhuman animal oppression is the seeing absurdity, according to many humans, of the mere notion of nonhuman animals having equal worth relative to human animals. One must bear in mind, though, that some humans continue to ridicule the notion that all humans have equal value and worth, despite strides in human rights movements. One of the parallels in human and nonhuman animal rights movements Is the involvement of the relatively more powerful acting to alleviate the oppression of the less powerful. As expected, social and economic power are helpful to implementing rights movements, human and nonhuman.