von Essen, Erica
- Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Hunting is a social world in which members socially differentiate themselves into smaller social worlds on the basis of adhering to a particular method, aesthetic, or game. Such identity constitution has been understood as forming communities of practice of hunters. Importantly, these communities frequently take pride in their distinct identities and assert theirs is the 'real' way of hunting. In this paper, we canvass the diverse factors that make up hunter identities and examine them for patterns and meaning. Our analysis places the phenomenon of social differentiation as it currently takes place in hunting in the context of responses to modernization. On this analysis, hunter identities are found to be rooted in defensive localism, class competition over resources, gender and moral affiliation, and the protection of the social legitimacy of hunting before an increasingly critical society. Our work is at once a synthesis of recurring hunting profiles across literature and field sites in Europe and a critical analysis of the significance of hunting communities of practice in future research, including serious leisure studies, nature-based recreation, criminology and rural sociology.
Keywords
Hunting; Wildlife management; Landscapes; Defensive localism; Urban outsiders
Published in
Journal of Rural Studies
2019, volume: 68, pages: 13-21
SLU Authors
Associated SLU-program
Nature experiences and health
Global goals (SDG)
UKÄ Subject classification
Fish and Wildlife Management
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.03.013
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/99121