Animals and Society

Human--animal studies explores human--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--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--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--animal relations.

Margo Demello teaches anthropology and sociology at Central New Mexico Community College. Her books include Speaking for Animals: Animal Autobiographical Writing, Teaching the Animal: Human-Animal Studies Across the Disciplines; Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature; and Why Animals Matter: The Case for Animal Protection.

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Constructing Animals: Animal Categories	p. 1
Human-Animal Studies	p. 3
What Is Human-Animal Studies?	p. 4
History of HAS	p. 7
Human-Animal Studies as a Way of Seeing	p. 9
Where Are Animals?	p. 11
Defining the Animal	p. 15
Understanding Animals and Their Uses	p. 17
Methodological Problems	p. 18
Theoretical Starting Points	p. 20
Real-World Implications of Human-Animal Studies	p. 26
Coming to Animal Studies, by Susan McHugh	p. 29
Animal-Human Borders	p. 32
Animals and Humans: The Great Divide?	p. 32
Non-Western Understandings	p. 33
Speciesism and the Rise of the Human-Animal Border	p. 36
Evolution and the Continuity Between the Species	p. 41
The Social Construction of Animals	p. 44
Biological Systems of Classification	p. 46
Other Systems of Classification	p. 47
How Does One Become a Certain Type of Animal?	p. 49
The Sociozoologic Scale	p. 50
A New System of Classification	p. 54
The Joy of Chickens, by Annie Potts	p. 56
Using Animals: Human-Animal Economies	p. 61
Animals "in the Wild" and in Human Societies	p. 63
Animals and Humans in the Paleolithic Era	p. 64
Subsistence Hunting and the Human-Animal Relationship	p. 66
From Subsistence to Sport	p. 68
Colonial Expansion and Animals	p. 69
Controversies Surrounding Subsistence Hunting	p. 71
Modern Relationships with Wildlife: Hunting and Conservation	p. 72
Human-Wildlife Conflicts	p. 75
The Colonial Animal, by Walter Putnam	p. 81
The Domestication of Animals	p. 84
History of Domestication	p. 84
Results of Domestication	p. 88
Altering the Animal Body	p. 90
Is Domestication Good or Bad?	p. 94
Coming to Animals, by Molly Mullin	p. 96
Display, Performance, and Sport	p. 99
Why Do We Watch Animals?	p. 99
Zoos	p. 101
Marine Mammal Parks	p. 107
The Public Reaction to Zoos and Marine Mammal Parks	p. 109
Circuses	p. 112
Animal Racing	p. 115
Animal Fighting	p. 118
Alternative Ways of Watching Animals	p. 119
Working from Within: An Ethnographer in Human-Animal Worlds, by Garry Marvin	p. 123
The Making and Consumption of Meat	p. 126
Meat Taboos	p. 127
How Animals Become Meat	p. 129
Meat Consumption in the Past	p. 131
Modern Meat Production	p. 132
Why We Eat Meat: The Political Economy of Agribusiness	p. 136
Slaughterhouse Workers	p. 139
Cultural Implications of Modern Meat Production and Consumption	p. 140
Ethics and Meat Eating	p. 142
The Pet Animal	p. 146
What Makes a Pet a Pet?	p. 147
The Rise of Pet Keeping	p. 150
The Development of the Modern Pet Industry	p. 152
Why We Keep Pets	p. 154
The Human-Pet Relationship	p. 155
Love and Grief	p. 157
Development of Humane Attitudes Through Pets	p. 159
Contradictory Attitudes Toward Pets	p. 161
Pets and Domination	p. 162
Helping People, Helping Pets: Working with VET SOS, by Cheryl Joseph	p. 167
Animals and Science	p. 170
The History of Vivisection	p. 171
The Scope of Animal Research and Testing	p. 174
Environmental Enrichment	p. 178
Animals as Stand-Ins for Humans	p. 179
The Social Construction of the Lab Animal	p. 180
The History of the Anti-Vivisection Movement	p. 183
Alternatives to Animal Research and Testing	p. 186
The Battle Over Animal Research Today	p. 189
Animal-Assisted Activities	p. 194
Animals as Human Assistants	p. 194
Working Animals Today	p. 198
Assistance Animals	p. 201
Animal-Assisted Therapy	p. 204
The Human-Animal Bond: Benefits to Humans	p. 207
What About Benefits to Animals?	p. 209
The Healing Gifts of Animals: Animal-Assisted Therapy, by Cynthia Kay Chandler	p. 211
Attitudes Toward Animals	p. 215
Working with Animals	p. 217
Ethnographic Fieldwork	p. 218
People Who Work with Animals	p. 219
Animal Rescue Volunteers	p. 221
Shelter Workers and Veterinarians	p. 223
Ranchers	p. 227
Laboratory Workers	p. 228
Slaughterhouse Workers	p. 230
Working with People Who Work with Animals, by Clinton Sanders	p. 233
Violence to Animals	p. 236
Institutionalized Violence to Animals	p. 237
Culture-Specific Violence	p. 240
Deviant Violence	p. 242
The Link Between Violence to Animals and Violence to Humans	p. 245
Domestic Violence and Animal Abuse	p. 248
Treatment and Prevention	p. 250
Legislation	p. 251
AniCare: Treating Animal Abuse, by Kenneth Shapiro	p. 254
Human Oppression and Animal Suffering	p. 256
Interlinked Systems of Exploitation	p. 256
The Roots of Oppression	p. 257
Othering and Essentializing	p. 258
Sexism and Speciesism	p. 261
Racism, Slavery, the Holocaust, and Animal Exploitation	p. 265
What Is the Problem with Comparisons?	p. 268
Racism and Animal Advocacy	p. 269
Capitalism and the Expansion of Oppression	p. 272
Connecting the Dots: Legitimating Oppressions, by David Nibert	p. 277
Imagining Animals: Animals as Symbol	p. 281
Animals in Human Thought	p. 283
The Use of Animals in Human Language	p. 284
Animals as Symbols	p. 287
Animals in Artwork	p. 290
Mirrors for Human Identities	p. 296
Animals and the Creative Arts, by Carol Gigliotti	p. 298
Animals in Religion and Folklore	p. 301
Animals in Religious Thought	p. 301
Animal Tales	p. 306
Animal-Human Transformations	p. 308
Religious Symbolism	p. 311
Animal Cults	p. 313
Sacrificial Lambs	p. 316
Communities of Faith and the Ethical Treatment of Animals	p. 319
What Do Animals and Religion Have to Do with Each Other? by Laura Hobgood-Oster	p. 322
Animals in Literature and Film	p. 325
Animals in Literature	p. 326
Animals in Children's Literature	p. 329
Talking Animals	p. 332
Animals in Film and TV	p. 333
The Internet Is Made of Cats	p. 338
Literary Animal Encounters, by Philip Armstrong	p. 342
Knowing and Relating to Animals: Animal Behavior and Animal Ethics	p. 347
Animal Behavior Studies and Ethology	p. 349
History of Animal Behavior Studies	p. 349
Animal Behavior Studies and Reductionism	p. 353
The Rise of Modern Ethology	p. 355
Anthropomorphism	p. 357
Animal Intelligence	p. 359
Animal Emotions	p. 362
Animal Language	p. 365
The Animal Self	p. 370
Doing and Saying in Play Between Dogs and People, by Robert W. Mitchell	p. 374
The Moral Status of Animals	p. 377
History of Philosophical Debates on Animals	p. 378
Ethical Humanism and the Rights of Animals	p. 383
Peter Singer and Utilitarianism	p. 386
Tom Regan and Animal Rights	p. 387
Other Approaches	p. 388
The Morality of Awareness, by Kathie Jenni	p. 393
The Animal Protection Movement	p. 396
Conserving Nature	p. 396
The Movement's Precursors	p. 398
The Animal Rights Movement: The First Wave	p. 402
The Animal Rights Movement: The Second Wave	p. 406
The Modern Animal Rights Movement	p. 407
Demographics: Who Becomes an Animal Rights Activist?	p. 411
Place of the Movement in Contemporary Society	p. 416
The Future of the Human-Animal Relationship	p. 419
Bibliography	p. 423
Index	p. 459
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