Happy Meat : The Sadness and Joy of a Paradoxical Idea.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baumann, Shyon.

Contributor:

Kennedy, Emily Huddart.

Johnston, Josee.

Oleschuk, Merin.

Series:

Culture and Economic Life Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Meat--Moral and ethical aspects.

Meat.

Meat industry and trade--Moral and ethical aspects.

Meat industry and trade.

Animal welfare.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (322 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Redwood City : Stanford University Press, 2025.

Summary:

"North Americans love eating meat. Despite the increased awareness of the meat industry's harms -- violence against animals, health problems, and associations with environmental degradation -- the rate of meat eating hasn't changed significantly in recent years. Instead what has emerged is an uncomfortable paradox; a need to square one's values with the behaviors that contradict those values. Using an immense, one-of-a-kind dataset, Happy Meat explores the emotions that underpin our moral decision-making in this meat paradox. So-called conscientious meat-eaters use the notion of "happy meat" to rationalize their behaviors by adhering to ostensibly healthy, ethical, and sustainable ways to consume meat. Happy meat might be labeled grass fed, free-range, antibiotic free, naturally raised, or humane. The people who produce and consume it, together, make up the complex landscape of meat-eating in modern Western societies. The discourse of happy meat ultimately may not be a sufficient response to the critiques of meat-eating, rife, as it is, with internal contradictions. However, the authors make the case for its cultural and theoretical importance, as it exemplifies the significance of social context and emotions for understanding attitudes and behaviors"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Front Cover

Half-title

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: How Did Meat Become "Happy"?

Part I: Situating Happy Meat

One. Exploring the Ethical Meatscape

Two. No Reservations? The Complicated Case of Regular (but Conflicted) Meat-Eating

Part II: The Emotions of Eating Meat

Three. Meat Is Disgusting . . . and Delicious!

Four. Happy Meat Makes Me Feel Good

Part III: Raising Happy Animals

Five. The Reality Behind Raising Happy Meat: Beyond a Good/Evil Binary

Six. Producing Happy Meat at Scale: Managing Vital Animals and Thinking Sustainably

Part IV: The Boundary Work of Happy Meat

Seven. Other People's Meat

Eight. Meat Makes Us Healthy and Whole-and Can Even Heal the Planet

Conclusion: How Can We Eat Ethically When Meat Is Murder?

Methods Appendix

Further Reading

Notes

References

Index

Series Page

Back Cover.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-5036-4284-4

OCLC:

1518278773