Simulated animal and simulated umwelt: Towards a method of analysing and critiquing nonhuman animals in consumer settings

Abstract

In this article I develop sociologist George Ritzer’s concept ‘simulated animal’ by focusing on rational systems, enchantment, and nonhuman animal corporeality and behaviour. I argue that simulated animals are nonhumans controlled, structured, or represented within consumer contexts. From this I develop what I am calling ‘simulated umwelt’. Simulated umwelt, as a concept, is a synthesis of zoosemiotics with Ritzer’s work and focuses on nonhuman animals’ experiences and representations within rationalized settings and consumer representation. This is accomplished by applying umwelt theory and analysis to the subjective experiential aspect of simulated animals via umwelt construction, in the ongoing pursuit of descriptive and critical approaches to nonhuman animals closely connected to consumption. I conclude by emphasizing the utility of simulated umwelt reconstruction for facilitating “truly” intersubjective descriptions of nonhuman experience.

Keywords

• rationalization
• McDonaldization
• enchantment
• zoosemiotics
• ideal types