To Örebro University

This article deals with the debates over animal protection in the Swedish riksdag of estates  1844-1858.  The  focus  is  on  the  political  problem  representation: What  or whom was  considered  the  cause  of  animal  cruelty?  From  the  standpoint  of  post-Marxist  discourse  theory  and  Lacanian  psychoanalysis,  the  article  offers  an interpretation  of  the mid-nineteenth  debates  as  attempts  to  depoliticize  speciesist norms  and  uphold  social  control.  This was  done  by  pointing  out  certain  groups from  the  lower classes as  typical perpetrators of animal cruelty. At  the same  time the vast bulk of animal use  exercised by  society  in general was  elided  from view, rendering systematic animal exploitation invisible and beyond political critique.