Animals and Society

Animals and Society

An Introduction to Human-Animal Studies

  • Autor: DeMello, Margo
  • Editor: Columbia University Press
  • ISBN: 9780231152945
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780231526760
  • Lloc de publicació:  New York , United States
  • Any de publicació digital: 2012
  • Mes: Agost
  • Idioma: Anglés

Considering that much of human society is structured through its interaction with non-human animals, and since human society relies heavily on the exploitation of animals to serve human needs, human–animal studies has become a rapidly expanding field of research, featuring a number of distinct positions, perspectives, and theories that require nuanced explanation and contextualization.

The first book to provide a full overview of human–animal studies, this volume focuses on the conceptual construction of animals in American culture and the way in which it reinforces and perpetuates hierarchical human relationships rooted in racism, sexism, and class privilege. Margo DeMello considers interactions between humans and animals within the family, the law, the religious and political system, and other major social institutions, and she unpacks the different identities humans fashion for themselves and for others through animals. Essays also cover speciesism and evolutionary continuities; the role and preservation of animals in the wild; the debate over zoos and the use of animals in sports; domestication; agricultural practices such as factory farming; vivisection; animal cruelty; animal activism; the representation of animals in literature and film; and animal ethics. Sidebars highlight contemporary controversies and issues, with recommendations for additional reading, educational films, and related websites. DeMello concludes with an analysis of major philosophical positions on human social policy and the future of human–animal relations.

  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • PART I CONSTRUCTING ANIMALS: Animal Categories
    • 1. Human-Animal Studies
      • What Is Human-Animal Studies?
      • History of HAS
      • Human-Animal Studies as a Way of Seeing
      • Where Are Animals?
      • Defining the Animal
      • Understanding Animals and Their Uses
      • Methodological Problems
      • Theoretical Starting Points
      • Real-World Implications of Human-Animal Studies
      • Coming to Animal Studies by Susan McHugh
    • 2. Animal-Human Borders
      • Animals and Humans: The Great Divide?
      • Non-Western Understandings
      • Speciesism and the Rise of the Human-Animal Border
      • Evolution and the Continuity Between the Species
    • 3. The Social Construction of Animals
      • Biological Systems of Classification
      • Other Systems of Classification
      • How Does One Become a Certain Type of Animal?
      • The Sociozoologic Scale
      • A New System of Classification
      • The Joy of Chickens by Annie Potts
  • PART II USING ANIMALS: Human-Animal Economies
    • 4. Animals "in the Wild" and in Human Societies
      • Animals and Humans in the Paleolithic Era
      • Subsistence Hunting and the Human-Animal Relationship
      • From Subsistence to Sport
      • Colonial Expansion and Animals
      • Controversies Surrounding Subsistence Hunting
      • Modern Relationships with Wildlife: Hunting and Conservation
      • Human-Wildlife Conflicts
      • The Colonial Animal by Walter Putnam
    • 5. The Domestication of Animals
      • History of Domestication
      • Results of Domestication
      • Altering the Animal Body
      • Is Domestication Good or Bad?
      • Coming to Animals by Molly Mullin
    • 6. Display, Performance, and Sport
      • Why Do We Watch Animals?
      • Zoos
      • Marine Mammal Parks
      • The Public Reaction to Zoos and Marine Mammal Parks
      • Circuses
      • Animal Racing
      • Animal Fighting
      • Alternative Ways of Watching Animals
      • Working from Within: An Ethnographer in Human-Animal Worlds by Garry Marvin
    • 7. The Making and Consumption of Meat
      • Meat Taboos
      • How Animals Become Meat
      • Meat Consumption in the Past
      • Modern Meat Production
      • Why We Eat Meat: The Political Economy of Agribusiness
      • Slaughterhouse Workers
      • Cultural Implications of Modern Meat Production and Consumption
      • Ethics and Meat Eating
    • 8. The Pet Animal
      • What Makes a Pet a Pet?
      • The Rise of Pet Keeping
      • The Development of the Modern Pet Industry
      • Why We Keep Pets
      • The Human-Pet Relationship
      • Love and Grief
      • Development of Humane Attitudes Through Pets
      • Contradictory Attitudes Toward Pets
      • Pets and Domination
      • Helping People, Helping Pets: Working with VET SOS by Cheryl Joseph
    • 9. Animals and Science
      • The History of Vivisection
      • The Scope of Animal Research and Testing
      • Environmental Enrichment
      • Animals as Stand-Ins for Humans
      • The Social Construction of the Lab Animal
      • The History of the Anti-Vivisection Movement
      • Alternatives to Animal Research and Testing
      • The Battle Over Animal Research Today
    • 10. Animal-Assisted Activities
      • Animals as Human Assistants
      • Working Animals Today
      • Assistance Animals
      • Animal-Assisted Therapy
      • The Human-Animal Bond: Benefits to Humans
      • What About Benefits to Animals?
      • The Healing Gifts of Animals: Animal-Assisted Therapy by Cynthia Kay Chandler
  • PART III ATTITUDES TOWARD ANIMALS
    • 11. Working with Animals
      • Ethnographic Fieldwork
      • People Who Work with Animals
      • Animal Rescue Volunteers
      • Shelter Workers and Veterinarians
      • Ranchers
      • Laboratory Workers
      • Slaughterhouse Workers
      • Working with People Who Work with Animals by Clinton Sanders
    • 12. Violence to Animals
      • Institutionalized Violence to Animals
      • Culture-Specific Violence
      • Deviant Violence
      • The Link Between Violence to Animals and Violence to Humans
      • Domestic Violence and Animal Abuse
      • Treatment and Prevention
      • Legislation
      • AniCare: Treating Animal Abuse by Kenneth Shapiro
    • 13. Human Oppression and Animal Suffering
      • Interlinked Systems of Exploitation
      • The Roots of Oppression
      • Othering and Essentializing
      • Sexism and Speciesism
      • Racism, Slavery, the Holocaust, and Animal Exploitation
      • What Is the Problem with Comparisons?
      • Racism and Animal Advocacy
      • Capitalism and the Expansion of Oppression
      • Connecting the Dots: Legitimating Oppressions by David Nibert
  • PART IV IMAGINING ANIMALS: Animals as Symbols
    • 14. Animals in Human Thought
      • The Use of Animals in Human Language
      • Animals as Symbols
      • Animals in Artwork
      • Mirrors for Human Identities
      • Animals and the Creative Arts by Carol Gigliotti
    • 15. Animals in Religion and Folklore
      • Animals in Religious Thought
      • Animal Tales
      • Animal-Human Transformations
      • Religious Symbolism
      • Animal Cults
      • Sacrificial Lambs
      • Communities of Faith and the Ethical Treatment of Animals
      • What Do Animals and Religion Have to Do with Each Other? by Laura Hobgood-Oster
    • 16. Animals in Literature and Film
      • Animals in Literature
      • Animals in Children’s Literature
      • Talking Animals
      • Animals in Film and TV
      • The Internet Is Made of Cats
      • Literary Animal Encounters by Philip Armstrong
  • PART V KNOWING AND RELATING TO ANIMALS: Animal Behavior and Animal Ethics
    • 17. Animal Behavior Studies and Ethology
      • History of Animal Behavior Studies
      • Animal Behavior Studies and Reductionism
      • The Rise of Modern Ethology
      • Anthropomorphism
      • Animal Intelligence
      • Animal Emotions
      • Animal Language
      • The Animal Self
      • Doing and Saying in Play Between Dogs and People by Robert W. Mitchell
    • 18. The Moral Status of Animals
      • History of Philosophical Debates on Animals
      • Ethical Humanism and the Rights of Animals
      • Peter Singer and Utilitarianism
      • Tom Regan and Animal Rights
      • Other Approaches
      • The Morality of Awareness by Kathie Jenni
    • 19. The Animal Protection Movement
      • Conserving Nature
      • The Movement’s Precursors
      • The Animal Rights Movement: The First Wave
      • The Animal Rights Movement: The Second Wave
      • The Modern Animal Rights Movement
      • Demographics: Who Becomes an Animal Rights Activist?
      • Place of the Movement in Contemporary Society
    • 20. The Future of the Human-Animal Relationship
  • Bibliography
  • Index