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Forms Of
Leisure In The Rural Landscape - Can Fox
Hunting Still Be Classed As A Sport In The 21st
Century?
This
essay
will examine the above question with reference to class polarisation in
the
countryside and how foxhunting has become synonymous with middle class
dominance in rural areas. Media representations of rurality will be
briefly
explored, and the pros and cons of the wider foxhunting debate will be
considered. Research carried out by Ward (1999), Baker and Macdonald
(2000) and
Philips et al. (2001) will be used as a means for discussing some of
the issues
of concern. Heyd
(2005:339) discusses the ‘culturally structured gaze’ that guides
perception
and interpretation of both nature and the countryside. This ‘gaze’, it
can be
argued, is partially based on class preferences and so forms of leisure
in the
rural landscape can be said to reflect cultural patterns of consumption
and
lifestyle choices. Such an argument can be supported by Parker (2006:1)
who
claims ‘countryside politics is changing to reflect both a productivity
and
post feudal countryside’ therefore positioning this essay into context.
The
countryside way of life is traditionally seen as middle class and as
such is
represented so in the media via television, radio and newspapers.
Philips et
al. (2001:5) state ‘the rural idyll is seen as a socially dominant and
dominating way of conceiving - cognitively, emotionally or
aesthetically - and
presenting rural space’. Thus the countryside can be described as
signifying a
comfortable bourgeois lifestyle (Philips et al. 2001:20). This
lifestyle is
indicated by a variety of ‘class icons’ (Philips et al. 2001:15) which
include
Range Rovers, country houses, Barbour jackets, brogue shoes and, in
many cases,
fox hunting. Such
representations of rurality form a class hegemony which has manifested
itself
quite clearly in the recent fox hunting ban and accompanying debates.
Ward
(1999:389) traces the origin of such debates thus: ‘First has been a moral argument about animal
rights and welfare, and the infliction of suffering upon wild animals
in the
name of sport. Second has been a discourse about cultural traditions
and the
contribution of hunting to “the country way of life”. Third has been an
ecological discourse about effective pest control and the management
and
conservation of valued habitats and species. Finally (…) [there] has
been a set
of economic arguments about the livelihoods of people in rural areas,
and the
economic contribution of hunting to the rural economy’. Notions
of
hunting as a sport have altered considerably, just as rural areas have
become
important aspects of wider political change throughout Britain. The
Labour
manifesto in 1997 quite clearly set out the party’s intention to ban
hunting
with mammals in England and Wales, a law that was finally passed in
February
2005. Baker and Macdonald (2000:186) state ‘Fox hunting originated as a
sport
(…) but in defence of its continuation, many now claim that it provides
a
useful form of pest control’. This argument will be referred back to
shortly,
however it is important at this point to introduce the changing tactics
of the
pro-hunt lobby. Ward
(1999:390) writes ‘what has been distinctive about the hunting debate
in the
late 1990s has been a rising profile of a set of claims about the
importance of
hunting to rural employment and the rural economy’. Pro-hunt
campaigners seem
aware of the declining support of hunting as a sport throughout the
wider
community, especially in urbanised areas. Thus a clever decision was
taken to
argue for hunting as an important economic benefit to countryside
inhabitants. Ward
(1999:390) continues: ‘it was overwhelmingly pro-hunting MPs who
raised the economic argument (…) to widen the appeal of pro-hunting
arguments
and present the (…) [ban] as an attack on the rural economy, and thus
the
countryside as a whole, rather than an attack on an activity pursued by
only a
small minority of people’. However,
Ward
(1999:390) discusses how the pro-hunt campaigners massaged their data
so that
fox hunting appeared much more important both economically and socially
to the
countryside. Thus their claims that country sports expenditure in rural
areas
amounted to £3.8 billion in 1997 failed to clarify that the
majority of this
spending was actually on other sports such as angling and falconry, fox
hunting
accounting for just 0.3% of the total money spent (Ward 1999:391). Ward
(1999:392) is highly critical of the pro-hunting campaigners
methodology which
was supposed to provide results identifying just how crucially
important fox
hunting was to the economy. Instead the way the research was carried
out only
managed to undermine the pro-hunting movement. Ward (1999:393) claims
that
‘hunting must be viewed in the wider context of a changing rural
economy’. Such
a context should be inclusive of the following factors: total labour
force has
declined in rural areas generally and not just because of the ban on
hunting,
job losses from the closure of coal mines have had far more detrimental
effects
on rural communities than from the ban on hunting, and government
support for
rural development is now more dependent on developing tourism in rural
areas
than by sustaining more traditional forms of countryside recreation. Already
mentioned in this essay is the idea that fox hunting was a form of pest
control
on British farms. However, research carried out by Baker and Macdonald
(2000)
appears to suggest that such a notion of pest control is actually a
misconception. The impression is given that many of the debates
surrounding fox
hunting are misconceived, politically guided and juxtaposed with
dominant media
images of the countryside as previously discussed by Philips et al.
(2000). Baker
and
Macdonald (2000) conducted research on farmer’s opinions towards foxes
in
Wiltshire. Rabbits and badgers were seen as more of a threat to farms
than
foxes, however there are no hunts that justify their existence because
they
control such pests. Two thirds of farmers did not see foxes as pests
and
actually argued that foxes can be seen as ‘beneficial by consuming
rabbits and
other pests of agricultural crops’ (Baker and Macdonald 2000:189).
Foxes are
mistakenly identified as carriers of disease when in reality ‘foxes
pose no
significant threat to the health of humans or domestic animals’ (Baker
and
Macdonald 2000:192). Baker
and
Macdonald (2000:199) conclude their research by discussing how the fox
as a
pest that needs to be controlled is a rural myth and that ‘improving
sheep
husbandry would have a much greater impact on lamb survival than would
fox
control’. Foxes as a nemesis of sheep and poultry is a fable that
foxhunters
have used for many years as a means of justifying their sport. Consequently
it seems plausible to state that fox hunting can no longer be justified
on the
grounds of pest control or farm protection as previously argued by the
pro-hunting lobby. Neither can the argument be upheld that fox hunting
is
essential to upkeep the rural economy. Fox hunting has and always will
be a
sporting tradition which acts as a metaphor for the middle class way of
life in
the countryside. Fox
hunting,
it can be argued, acts as a symbol of the middle class values
associated with
rurality. Therefore the whole fox hunting debate can be linked to the
traditional values and class hierarchy that has previously dominated
the way of
life in the countryside. Fox hunting is not just a sport, but the
symbol of a
system based on social dominance and membership to a higher order. This
higher
order is related to the middle and upper class majority of specific
rural
areas. As such, fox hunting’s main function appears to be as a
signifier for
the nostalgia intrinsic to the established rural elite and their whole
way of
life, both politically and socially. Therefore to conclude this essay it is possible to argue that foxhunting can no longer be classed as a sport in 21st century Britain. The rural economy can be developed via other means such as tourism or more contemporary countryside leisure pursuits although all of these pastimes cannot be warranted as sustainable. More research is needed to examine the pros and cons of other forms of leisure in the rural landscape. However, the fact that the fox hunting ban has been in place for more than a year and that the countryside is still intact goes far enough to validate the reasons why the ban was introduced in the first place |