Many public debates become polarized, degenerating into a pattern of mutual suspicion
and name-calling that preclude communication or compromise. The debate over animal
research has typically followed this path. To understand how polarization might be
avoided, we examine the factors that helped prevent it in one local controversy:
Cambridge, Massachusetts in the late 1980s. These factors include the personal style of
the leader of the main animal protection group, the financing for the group, the group's
ability to win a symbolic victory in the form of a relatively toothless city ordinance, and, especially, the relative avoidance by both sides of rigid ideological posturing in favor of "casuistic" argumentation about specific cases and policies.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ackerman, Barbara.1989. You the mayor? The education of a city politician. Dover, MA: Auburn.
2.
Agha, Gul.1986. Testimony in support of ordinance to provide for care and use of animals in Cambridge. 18 September. Files of Cambridge City Clerk.
3.
—. Letter to supporters. Files of Cambridge Committee of Responsible Research . N.d.
4.
Albrecht, Margaret Page.1986. On animal research. Letter to the editor. Cambridge Chronicle. 23 October, p. 4.
5.
" Animal rights commission proposed by group." 1978. Cambridge Chronicle. 27 April, p. 9.
6.
" Animal commission worth trying." 1978. Cambridge Chronicle. 18 May, p. 4.
7.
Baltimore, David.1986. Testimony of David Baltimore, Reservoir Street, Cambridge. Director, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. 18 September. Files of Cambridge City Clerk .
8.
Berry, Jeffrey M.1977. Lobbying for the people. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
9.
Blodgett, Mirdy.1981. "Town and gown." Cambridge Tab, 29 September, pp. 1, 3.
10.
Bridegam, Martha A.1987a. "Council hears testimony on animal rights rule." Harvard Crimson, 28 April, pp. 3, 6.
11.
—. 1987b. "Harvard commissioned secret poll on lab tests." Harvard Crimson, 17 September, pp. 1, 8.
12.
Cambridge City Council.1986. Ordinance for the care of laboratory animals in the City of Cambridge. Files of Cambridge City Clerk.
13.
Chafe, William H.1980. Civilities and civil rights. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
14.
Chalfen, Melvin H.Proposed animal research ordinance. Letter to Mr. Robert Healy, Cambridge city manager, 9 April 1987. Files of Cambridge City Clerk.
15.
Coleman, James S.1957. Community conflict. New York: Free Press.
16.
Corlette, Jane.Telephone interview. September 1992.
17.
Citizens United for Research and Education (CURE).Letter to Walter Milne. 1 October 1987. Harvard Office of Government and Community Affairs files.
18.
Deutsch, Morton.1973. The resolution of conflict. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. "Draize test ban?" 1987. Cambridge Chronicle, 14 May, p. 2.
19.
Edelman, Murray.1964. The symbolic uses of politics. Urbana : University of Illinois Press.
20.
Fox, Michael Allen.1986. The case for animal experimentation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
21.
Fusoni, Joseph.Letter read before the Cambridge City Council, 18 September 1986. Files of Cambridge City Clerk.
22.
Gaffney, Dennis.1987. "Two tests banned." Cambridge Tab, 26 May, pp. 1, 19.
23.
Gamson, William A.1990. The strategy of social protest. 2d ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
24.
Gaulkin, Zachary.1990. "Vellucci moves out of the spotlight." Cambridge Chronicle, 4 January, pp. 1, 6.
25.
Gay, Ginger.1985. Report of laboratories conducting experiments on live animals in Cambridge, Massachusetts. August.
26.
—. Telephone interview. January 1990.
27.
Harken, Dwight E.1986. Comments to the Cambridge City Council. Files of Cambridge City Clerk.
28.
Higley, Russell. City Solicitor. 1989. Testimony at Cambridge City Council hearing. 19 June. Files of Cambridge City Clerk.
29.
Hoffman, Matthew.1990. "City adopts animal rights ordinance." Harvard Crimson, 30 June, p. 1.
30.
Ingalls, Zoe.1989. Animal-care rules seen having little impact. Chronicle of Higher Education, 5 July, A2.
31.
Jamison, Wesley V., and William M. Lunch.1992. Rights of animals, perceptions of science, and political activism: Profile of American animal rights activists . Science, Technology, & Human Values17:438-58.
32.
Jasper, James M.1988. The political life cycle of technological controversies . Social Forces67:357-77.
33.
—. 1990. Nuclear politics: Energy and the state in the United States, Sweden, and France. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
34.
—. 1992a. The politics of abstractions: Instrumental and moralist rhetoric in public debate. Social Research59:315-44.
35.
—. 1992b. Three nuclear energy controversies. In Controversy, 3d ed., edited by Dorothy Nelkin, 26-44. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
36.
Jasper, James M., and Dorothy Nelkin.1992. The animal rights crusade: The growth of a moral protest. New York: Free Press.
37.
Jonsen, Albert R., and Stephen Toulmin .1988. The abuse of casuistry: A history of moral reasoning. Berkeley: University of California Press.
38.
Krimsky, Sheldon.1982. Genetic alchemy: The social history of the recombinant DNA controversy. Cambridge. MIT Press.
39.
—. 1986. Research under community standards: Three case studies . Science, Technology, & Human Values11:14-33.
40.
Krimsky, Sheldon, Anne Baeck, and John Bolduc.1982. Municipal and state recombinant DNA laws: History and assessment. Boston: Boston Neighborhood Network.
41.
Lipsky, Michael.1968. Protest as a political resource. American Political Science Review62:1144-58.
42.
McCabe, Mark.1987. Report to Cambridge City Council. 6 April. Cambridge Animal Commission files.
43.
—. Personal interview. October 1991.
44.
Mendelsohn, Everett.1984. Frankenstein at Harvard: The public politics of recombinant DNA research. In Transformations and tradition in the sciences: Essays in honor of I. B. Cohen, edited by Everett Mendelsohn.New York: Cambridge University Press.
45.
Moses, John.Letter to Gul Agha. 17 September 1987. Cambridge Committee for Responsible Research files.
46.
Moses, John, Stuart Wiles, and Steven M. Wise.1989. Joint recommendations of the mayor's blue ribbon committee on the care and use of laboratory animals in Cambridge. 11 April. Files of Cambridge City Clerk.
47.
Mothes, J. Barry.1987. "Council delays action on animals." Cambridge Chronicle, 24 September, p. 1, 9A.
48.
Oberschall, Anthony.1993. Protracted conflict. In Social Movements , 97-123. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
49.
O'Neill, Jacquelline, and Martha Bridegam .1987. "Animal rights group ends referendum drive." Harvard Crimson, 26 September, p. 7.
50.
Piven, Frances Fox, and Richard A. Cloward.1977. Poor people's movements. New York: Pantheon.
51.
Regan, Tom.1983. The case for animal rights. Berkeley : University of California Press.
52.
Rissler, R.L., Assistant Director, Animal Health Programs, U.S.D.A. Letter to Stephen Ronan . 31 July 1985. CCRR files.
53.
Romer, Sara.Letter to Gul Agha. 22 July 1987.
54.
Roth, LorraineFounder of CEASE). Personal interview. December 1991.
55.
Russell, Athena, and Ken RussellMember of CCRR). Personal interview. November 1991.
56.
Ryerson, MariaMember of CCRR). Personal interview. November 1991.
57.
Sanders, Scott.1992. "Encaging science? Animal activism in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1985-1990." Unpublished B.A. thesis, Harvard University .
58.
Schattschneider, E.E.1960. The semi-sovereign people. New York : Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
59.
Singer, Peter.1990. Animal liberation, 2d ed. New York: New York Review of Books.
60.
Staggenborg, Suzanne.1986. Coalition work in the pro-choice movement: Organizational and environmental opportunities and obstacles. Social Problems33:374-90.
61.
Stoloff, Deborah.1989. "Ordinance draft set on lab animal study." Cambridge Chronicle, 8 June, pp. 1, 8.
62.
Taylor, C. Richard.1986. Research treat. Letter to the editor. Cambridge Chronicle, 27 November, p. 4.
63.
Tribe, Laurence H.1990. Abortion: The clash of absolutes. New York: W. W. Norton.
64.
Weiner, Jonathan.1991. Professors, politics and pop. New York : Verso.
65.
Wise, Steven M., John Moses, and Stuart Wiles.1989. Report of the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee on the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals in Cambridge. 24 February. Files of Cambridge City Clerk.
66.
Wright, Lawrence.1987. The rights of mice. New England Monthly95 (August), pp. 37-44.
