A. Matsuoka and J. Sorenson June, 2019

1970 British psychologist Richard Ryder coined the term, as a tool to help us think & act differently.
Speciesism = practice of assigning value to beings based solely on membership in a particular species.
Ryder described it as a prejudice, like racism & sexism, in that treatment is based on morally irrelevant differences.

Philosopher Tom Regan (1983, 243) also called speciesism a prejudice in his discussion of non-human animals as sentient beings,
Sentience = subjective awareness, having interests, desires, preferences

Sociologist David Nibert (2002) identifies speciesism as an ideology – shared ideas, values & beliefs that legitimize a given social order & as a key aspect of oppression, along with economic exploitation and unequal power.

Taking these in, we considered speciesism as:
“Within the ideological framework of speciesism and organised according to the needs of capitalism, other animals are considered commodities and resources for our use and their lives are considered expendable as we slaughter them by the billions. Speciesism presents this systemic oppression as natural and acceptable, legitimising and reproducing it” in various cultural, economic and political institutions. (Matsuoka & Sorenson 2014, 71)

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References:

Matsuoka, A. and Sorenson, J. (2014). Social Justice beyond Human Beings: Trans-Species Social Justice, In T. Ryan (Ed.). Animals in social work: Why and how they matter. (pp.64-79).  London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Nibert, D. (2002). Animal rights human rights. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.

Regan, T. (1983, 2004). The case for animal rights: Empty Cages. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Ryder, R. D. (2000). Speciesism, Animal Revolution: Changing attitudes towards speciesism. Oxford: Berg.