Animals and society : an introduction to human-animal studies / Margo DeMello.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

DeMello, Margo.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Animals and civilization--History.

Animals and civilization.

Human-animal relationships--History.

Human-animal relationships.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, c2012.

Summary:

Human#150;animal studies explores human#150;animal relations and the place of animals within human social and cultural worlds. 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#150;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 textbook to provide a full overview of human#150;animal studies for students, general readers, and scholars, 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. DeMello also covers 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 in each chapter 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#150;animal relations.

Contents:

Intro

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

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.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-231-52676-8

OCLC:

818857939