The Social Construction of Narratives and Arguments in Animal Welfare Discourse and Debate

Simple Summary Animal welfare is a public good that is extremely important to stakeholders, who can hold conflicting values and viewpoints, on what animal welfare is, and how a good life is achieved. Various stakeholder groups tend to signal different problems, or problematize specific aspects of farm animal welfare, and propose different actions or interventions within food supply chains. In the paper we explore the contribution of narrative and argumentative discourse to the social construction and framing of animal welfare and its implications. Our findings demonstrate the contestation within the stakeholder discourse around animal welfare and farm animals. We demonstrate how performance-related perspectives are rooted in value-laden language within narratives that shape the discourse regarding notions of good and bad welfare; or positive or negative welfare. We suggest that future research should examine in more depth the socially constructed language, dialogues and discourses expressed among and between stakeholders in order to embody the breadth, depth, and understanding of the multiple meanings of farm animal welfare, and the emergent positioning of positive welfare for farm animals as well as how to achieve a good life in practice. The novel contribution of this review is the application of an explanatory word-language-discourse-person-situation-environment framework in this specific context to inform future research on animal welfare discourse analysis. Stakeholders can hold conflicting values and viewpoints, on what animal welfare is and how a good life is achieved and can signal different problems, or problematize specific aspects of farm animal welfare, and propose different actions or interventions within food supply chains. The aim of the study is to explore the contribution of narrative and argumentative discourse to the social construction and framing of animal welfare and its implications. The methodological approach in this research is composed of two phases with phase 1 being the foundational structured literature search in both academic and grey literature. Phase 2 was the analysis of the secondary data from the literature review to develop a synthesized iterative paper and in doing so develop a typology of five narratives: the 'farming as a business' narrative, the 'religion-based' narrative, the 'research, legislative and political based narrative', the 'higher welfare' narrative, and the animal rights/power-based narrative. Our findings demonstrate the contestation within the stakeholder discourse of the articulation of why farm animals should have a good life. Performance-related perspectives are rooted in the value-laden language and narratives that shape the arguments regarding notions of good and bad welfare; the emergent positioning of positive welfare for farm animals as well as how to achieve a good life in practice. The novel contribution of this review is the application of an explanatory word-language-discourse-person-situation-environment framework in this specific context to inform future research on animal welfare discourse analysis.

Automated summary

Animal welfare is a public good that can be viewed differently by stakeholders. This paper explores the contribution of narrative and argumentative discourse to the social construction of animal welfare. The study reveals the contestation within stakeholder discourse and how language shapes the understanding of good and bad welfare. Future research should delve into the socially constructed language and dialogues among stakeholders to better understand the multiple meanings of animal welfare and how to achieve positive welfare for farm animals.