The socio-ecological justice perspective is concerned with the culture and power of the market, the predominance of a vision that sees animals as inferior, exploitable and expendable. It pays attention to abuse, violence and death, considers harm as a social and ecological crime regardless of legality and, recognizes the suffering of a series of victims who have historically been invisible both to justice systems and society in general. This chapter examines, from the perspective of socio-ecological justice and through an ethnographic lens, two markets with deep cultural roots and tradition in Mexico: wild animals as pets and the colonial legacy of fighting cocks for entertainment, with the aim of critically analysing victimization and violence in relation to children and the treatment of animals. Are these markets sources of knowledge and wisdom about how to live peacefully, fairly and inclusively? These markets generate jobs and profits worth millions of pesos each year, but inherent to these two industries is the objectification and exploitation of animals and the social consent of a culture that reinforces the maintenance of cruelty practices among children. Mexico is a country defined by the contours of violence, so it is important to review the scenarios of violence in the different spaces and temporalities of social life. Exposure of children to the instigation of harmful actions on animals promotes insensitivity to suffering. Both animals and children are victims. Although there is a diversity of childhoods, as minors face multiple social, cultural and economic contexts that definitively mark and position them in the world, we make the mistake of not seeing children as principal actors in search for solutions to problems. Children are seen as passive, only as recipients of what adults create for them and move as if they were not agents of change. Harm inflicted on children and animals threatens responsible and sustainable global initiatives. How can we change ourselves and our societies and politics to live more equitably with each other and with the non-human world? Faced with strategies of economic and symbolic appropriation of nature and culture, such as the use of pets or fighting cocks, new socio-environmental ethics emerge that revalue life and human existence and invite us to reflect on our principles. Children can rethink their realities to resist the effects of social complexity, but they are still considered voiceless subjects. More respectful spaces should be opened, and social relations reconfigured where each person has a voice to contribute to transmitting feelings of identity linked to responsibility towards other ways of life. Green criminology proposes to build this type of bridge, addressing the various risk factors to redefine and transform our relationship with the natural world, in a culturally significant but socially and environmentally just way.

Ecological Crimes, Children and the Culture of Violence

动态工具书词条
发表日期：

2026年

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Inés Arroyo Quiroz

摘要

The socio-ecological justice perspective is concerned with the culture and power of the market, the predominance of a vision that sees animals as inferior, exploitable and expendable. It pays attention to abuse, violence and death, considers harm as a social and ecological crime regardless of legality and, recognizes the suffering of a series of victims who have historically been invisible both to justice systems and society in general. This chapter examines, from the perspective of socio-ecological justice and through an ethnographic lens, two markets with deep cultural roots and tradition in Mexico: wild animals as pets and the colonial legacy of fighting cocks for entertainment, with the aim of critically analysing victimization and violence in relation to children and the treatment of animals. Are these markets sources of knowledge and wisdom about how to live peacefully, fairly and inclusively? These markets generate jobs and profits worth millions of pesos each year, but inherent to these two industries is the objectification and exploitation of animals and the social consent of a culture that reinforces the maintenance of cruelty practices among children. Mexico is a country defined by the contours of violence, so it is important to review the scenarios of violence in the different spaces and temporalities of social life. Exposure of children to the instigation of harmful actions on animals promotes insensitivity to suffering. Both animals and children are victims. Although there is a diversity of childhoods, as minors face multiple social, cultural and economic contexts that definitively mark and position them in the world, we make the mistake of not seeing children as principal actors in search for solutions to problems. Children are seen as passive, only as recipients of what adults create for them and move as if they were not agents of change. Harm inflicted on children and animals threatens responsible and sustainable global initiatives. How can we change ourselves and our societies and politics to live more equitably with each other and with the non-human world? Faced with strategies of economic and symbolic appropriation of nature and culture, such as the use of pets or fighting cocks, new socio-environmental ethics emerge that revalue life and human existence and invite us to reflect on our principles. Children can rethink their realities to resist the effects of social complexity, but they are still considered voiceless subjects. More respectful spaces should be opened, and social relations reconfigured where each person has a voice to contribute to transmitting feelings of identity linked to responsibility towards other ways of life. Green criminology proposes to build this type of bridge, addressing the various risk factors to redefine and transform our relationship with the natural world, in a culturally significant but socially and environmentally just way.