Animal Welfare, National Identity and Social Change: Attitudes and Opinions of Spanish Citizens Towards Bullfighting

Traditionally, in Spain bullfighting represents an ancient and well-respected tradition and a combined brand of sport, art and national identity. However, bullfighting has received considerable criticism from various segments of society, with the concomitant rise of the animal rights movement. The p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of agricultural & environmental ethics 2017-12, Vol.30 (6), p.809-826
Main Authors: María, Gustavo A., Mazas, Beatriz, Zarza, Francisco J., Miranda de la Lama, Genaro C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural Economics
Animal care
Animal rights
Animal rights movement
Animal welfare
Attitude change
Attitude surveys
Bullfighting
Cruelty to animals
Economic factors
Economics
Education
Environmental ethics
Ethics
Evolutionary Biology
Hypotheses
National identity
Occupations
Perception
Philosophy
Plant Sciences
Public opinion
Social change
Social interactions
Socioeconomic factors
Spanish culture
Theory of Medicine/Bioethics
Young adults
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Summary:Traditionally, in Spain bullfighting represents an ancient and well-respected tradition and a combined brand of sport, art and national identity. However, bullfighting has received considerable criticism from various segments of society, with the concomitant rise of the animal rights movement. The paper reports a survey of the Spanish citizens using a face-to-face survey during January 2016 with a total sample of 2522 citizens (1256 men and 1266 women). The survey asked about degree of liking and approving; culture, art and national identity; socio-economic aspects; emotional perception and animal welfare. The hypothesis proposed that the perception of bullfights may be affected by gender, age, occupation, origin and nationality of the persons surveyed. The hypothesis was confirmed. The majority of citizens surveyed do not like bullfights and great majorities do not attend or watch such events. Two extreme clusters were described: one representing favorable attitude towards bullfighting and other against bullfighting. The proportion of indifferent persons was important. Women and young people showed a more favorable attitude towards animal welfare issues associated with these events. Rural people were more accepting bullfights than urban people. Students were more anti-bullfight than those in other occupations. Additionally, technical economic factors made people favor more bullfights. The growth of claim against bullfights establishes an element of a far more multifaceted phenomenon that animal cruelty per se and support of a new paradigm called social change in countries as Spain.
ISSN:1187-7863
1573-322X
DOI:10.1007/s10806-017-9700-9