In this article we provide an empirical test of Franklin's (1999) recent contribution to the burgeoning study of human-animal relations. Drawing on the anthropological claim that animals are good to think with, Franklin used theories of reflexive modernization to explain a shift to increasingly zoocentric and sentimentalized relations with animals. After deriving a series of expectations from this account, we tested them through a content-analysis of over 1000 articles from one Australian newspaper over a 50-year period. Broadly, we found support for Franklin's key claims. But we also found local contingencies and historical continuities which suggest limits to the sweeping theorizations of change in accounts of reflexive modernization.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Sociology
Research Field:	Sociology not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Indigenous
Objective Group:	Pacific Peoples community services
Objective Field:	Pacific Peoples community services not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Franklin, AS (Professor Adrian Franklin)
UTAS Author:	White, RD (Dr Robert White)
ID Code:	21905
Year Published:	2001
Web of Science® Times Cited:	35
Deposited By:	Sociology and Social Work
Deposited On:	2001-08-01
Last Modified:	2002-05-21
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