Regarding Animals

Regarding Animals, winner of the Charles Horton Cooley Award, explores how humans construct animals and themselves, highlighting the progress made in society's regard for animals, but also noting the continued euthanization of companion animals, extinction rates, and wildlife "management" conflicts. The updated edition includes four new chapters on various topics such as pet relationships, animal abuse, veterinary technicians, and animal representation in mass media.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 28 June 2022
Publisher: Temple University Press,U.S.

Winner of the Charles Horton Cooley Award, Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, 1997, the first edition of Regarding Animals delved into the history and practice of how humans construct animals, as well as how we construct ourselves and others in relation to them. Since then, significant progress has been made in how society regards animals. However, shelters continue to euthanize companion animals, extinction rates climb, and wildlife "management" pits human interests against those of animals.

This revised and updated edition of Regarding Animals includes four new chapters that examine how relationships with pets help homeless people construct positive personal identities; how adolescents who engage in or witness animal abuse understand their acts; how veterinary technicians experience both satisfaction and contamination in their jobs; and how animals are represented in mass media, both traditional editorial media and social media platforms.

The authors illustrate how modern society makes it possible for people to shower animals with affection and yet also to abuse or kill them. Although no culture or subculture provides solutions for resolving all moral contradictions, Regarding Animals illuminates how people find ways to live with inconsistent behavior.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781439923108