Wolf Conflicts: A Sociological Study (Interspecies Encounters, 1)

Wolf populations have recently made a comeback in Northern Europe and North America. These large carnivores can cause predictable conflicts by preying on livestock, and competing with hunters for game. But their arrivals often become deeply embedded in more general societal tensions, which arise alongside processes of social change that put considerable pressure on rural communities and on the rural working class in particular. Based on research and case studies conducted in Norway, Wolf Conflicts discusses various aspects of this complex picture, including conflicts over land use and conservation, and more general patterns of hegemony and resistance in modern societies.

Ketil Skogen is a sociologist at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research – NINA. He has studied the conflicts over wolves and wolf management in Norway for close to two decades, with a particular view to situating the controversies within societal power structures and processes of social and cultural change in rural areas.

Olve Krange is a sociologist at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research – NINA. Together with Ketil Skogen, he has studied the conflicts over large carnivore management in Norway for close to two decades. They have worked together on several studies of large carnivore management commissioned by the Norwegian Environment Agency.

Helene Figari did her post-graduate research in sociology on social representations of the wolf, in collaboration with Ketil Skogen and Olve Krange. She went on to do PhD research on the cultural meaning of hunting, while contributing to NINA’s research on the social dimensions of large carnivore management.