Regarding Animals

by Arnold Arluke

Overview

What is it about Western society, ask the authors, that makes it possible for people to express great affection for animals as sentient creatures and simultaneously turn a blind eye to the most callous behavior toward them? Animals are sold as expensive commodities, used as food and clothing, killed as vermin, and hunted for sport. But they also are treated as members of the family, used as the cause célèbre of social movements, and made the subject of art, film, and poetry. Such contradictions motivate these unique ethnographers to venture into social worlds most people know about only in passing, such as veterinary clinics where companion animals are cared for, animal shelters where dogs and cats are "mercifully" euthanized, and primate labs where monkeys are kept for animal experimentation.

Arluke and Sanders are not distanced ethnographers. They worked in the clinics, shelters, and laboratories, cleaning cages, assisting in surgery, and participating in "sacrificing" animals for science or helping to provide them with an "easy death." In this book, the people who work with these animals and live through them talk to the authors about the strategies they adopt to cope with the stress of the job.

This fascinating book combines sociological analysis with ethnographic description to give us insight into the history and practice of how we as human beings construct animals, and by extrapolation, how we construct ourselves and others in relation to them.

In the series Animals, Culture, and Society, edited by Arnold Arluke and Clinton R. Sanders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439903889
Publisher:	Temple University Press
Publication date:	06/04/2010
Series:	Animals Culture And Society
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	299 KB

About the Author

Arnold Arluke is Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University and a Research Associate at the Center for Animals and Public Policy at Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine. He is an Associate Editor of Society and Animals and the author of The Making of Rehabilitation: A Political Economy of Medical Specialization with Glenn Gritzer and Gossip: The Inside Scoop with Jack Levin.

Clinton R. Sanders, Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, is the author of Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing (Temple) and the co-editor (with Jeff Ferrell) of Cultural Criminology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Bringing Animals to the Center

Part I: The Human-Animal Tribe
1. The Human Point of View
2. Learning from Animals

Part II: Living with Contradiction
3. Speaking for Dogs
4. The Institutional Self of Shelter Workers
5. Systems of Meaning in Primate Las
6. Boundary Work in Nazi German
7. The Sociozoologic Scale

Conclusion: Paradox and Change
References
Index

What People are Saying About This

James Serpell

With their skillful use of the 'participant observer' method, Arluke and Sanders bring a unique perspective to our understanding of human-animal interactions. If you are one of those who think that people's relationships with animals are relatively straight-forward or uninteresting, read this book and think again!
— (James Serpell, Ph.D., Marie A. Moore Associate Professor of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare, University of Pennsylvania, author of In the Company of Animals)

Editorial Reviews

Ethnographers Arluke and Sanders, both professors of sociology, pose the question, What does the contradictory way society treats animals say about the individuals in the society itself? The authors explore the conflicting attitudes of people who work in animal shelters and primate labs and, in the most interesting section of the book, investigate the contradictions between treatment of humans and treatment of animals by the Nazis during WWII. Humans simultaneously treat animals with great affection and abuse, thereby demonstrating how they create and dissolve boundaries between themselves and animals. It is clearly not the authors' objective to preach or judge, but rather to observe the socially constructed view of animals that ultimately sheds a brilliant light on the humans who are doing the constructing. We see how people compartmentalize themselves and differentiate themselves from animals to express power, control and superiority. Although revealing and thought-provoking anecdotes told to or witnessed by the ethnographers are mixed in with the dense sociological analysis, it seems unlikely that this study will reach beyond a college classroom and find its way into the hands of the average reader. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"With the incredible development of human-animal studies since 1996, a second edition [of this book] was not only needed but welcome. The overall approach of the authors is appealing due to its thorough and skillful application of symbolic interactionism and its associated methods of empirical investigation to help us understand other animals and our relationships with them, and, in that process, understand ourselves."--Journal of Animal Ethics

"[The] authors broaden their approach to animal studies (sometimes called anthrozoology) by including updated references, in addition to adding chapters not present in their earlier book.... Among the topics discussed: how pet ownership contributes to positive self-identity; the experience of veterinary technicians; and how animal stories 'sell newspapers.'... [T]he editors have admirably extended its range of perspectives to include philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and law. The book sheds light on the perennial paradox of what makes it possible for humans to 'shower animals with affection' but also to maltreat or kill them.... This updated work cites an outstanding range of book and journal references, demonstrating the depth of this newly burgeoning field of study.... Summing Up: Highly recommended."--Choice

From the Publisher