Arlie Hochschild (1990, p.117)

Sociologists have long understood that the social world it not a solely rational place: it is messy, it is interactional and it is felt. Emotion management has a key role in supporting both work done to nonhuman animals (e.g. animal testing, fHarming, slaughter), and for nonhuman animals (e.g. activism, caretaking, critical animal research).

Increasing acknowledgement of the emotional and sensory experiences of nonhuman animals opens up exciting new avenues through which to better understand and challenge their exploitation. Here, methodological and theoretical innovation provides key resources for vegan sociologists to expand their toolkit.

In the 2025 meeting of the International Association of Vegan Sociologists we invite participants to consider how emotions and sensory experiences are integral to understanding and challenging nonhuman animal exploitation.

Potential topics include (but are not limited to):

• Nonhuman animals as minded, feeling beings: how are animals’ emotions or sensory experiences minimised or acknowledged in society and/or vegan sociology research?
• Veganism, activism and emotional labour: How do activists navigate the emotions involved in advocating for other animals? What role does emotional labour play in vegan activism?
• Socialisation of emotions & animal exploitation: How are emotional norms or ‘rules’ around nonhuman animals socialised in ways that challenge or support vegan ways of being?
• Sensory experiences and the Body: how can vegan sociology help us to explore human and nonhuman animals’ felt experiences of the social world?
• Vegan Sociological perspectives on particular emotions: e.g. how might explorations of disgust, desire, grief, joy, sadness further our work for nonhuman animals
• Innovative research methods for exploring sensory elements of the multispecies social world: e.g. Emotional/Sensory mapping, visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory methods
• Representations of nonhuman animal emotions: ‘happy’ exploited animals, suicide food, attempts to build empathy
• Digital emotions and online vegan communities
• Intersections of species, race, gender, and emotional politics

References

Hochschild AR (1990) Ideology and emotion management: A perspective and path for future research. In: Kemper TD (ed.) Research Agendas in the Sociology of Emotions. Albany, NY: State University NY Press, pp. 117–142.