Eläinten asialla

Japanilaiset eläinsuojelu- ja eläinoikeusjärjestöt yhteiskunnallisina toimijoina

Abstract

I explore the activities of Japanese animal welfare and rights organizations in the Tokyo and Kansai area
from the perspective of social movement and civil society studies. By using the collective action frame
analysis and the three core framing tasks – diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational – as the primarily
analytical tools, I study the grievances, tactics and motivational means articulated in the newsletters and
the interviews of twelve organizations. I also illustrate how the organizations construct the idea of citizen
activism in relation to their context. Deficiencies in the law and a lack of knowledge are identified as the
main grievances. The primary tactic used to overcome these problems is education. In order to motivate
people to join their cause and to enforce motivation within the organization, the organizations emphasize
their uniqueness, prove their efficiency, claim credit and celebrate improvements. The organizations
construct three different roles for pro-animal organizations in civil society: apolitical relievers, educative
collaborators, and supervising watchdogs. Based on the results of this research, I suggest that by studying
how and why the different relations between civil society and the governing actors are constructed, a
more versatile approach to collective citizens’ activism in its context can be achieved.