A Burger with a Side of Racism: Animal Agriculture Exacerbates Systemic Injustice Experienced by Marginalized Populations in the United States
Open Access
Author:
Barth, Jessica
Area of Honors:
Bioethics and Medical Humanities
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Michele L Mekel, Thesis Supervisor Michele L Mekel, Thesis Honors Advisor Jacob Robert Werner, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
bioethics animal agriculture systemic injustice environmental racism environmentalism social contract theory rights theory principlism
Abstract:
In response to the rising demand for animal products, industrialized animal agriculture in the United States has evolved. An agrarian sector that once consisted of small-scale, family-owned farms, now is made up of large-scale conglomerates that deploy tactics targeting marginalized communities as the bearers of burdens associated with expansion. Such unprecedented growth has given rise to numerous ethical concerns as these operations impose myriad health detriments and quality of life infringements upon neighboring residents due to serious environmental degradations. These already marginalized communities are further damaged as animal agriculture becomes a vector of systemic injustice. This thesis argues that the current methods used by the animal agriculture industry in both its placement and its operation are unjust through the use of ethical approaches focused on human impacts. Bioethical theories, including social contract theory, rights theory, and principlism, reveal myriad ethical violations. This thesis has a particular focus on principlism’s justice prong and the associated material theories of justice due to the systemic nature of injustice perpetrated upon low-SES, rural communities of color. Solutions are proposed at three various levels: (1) government action, (2) corporate action, and (3) individual action. Upon implementation, such actions have the potential to ameliorate the damages imposed on impacted communities and their residents.
