Description
Book SynopsisWinner of the Charles Horton Cooley Award, Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, 1997
The first edition of Regarding Animals provided insight into the history and practice of how human beings construct animals, and how we construct ourselves and others in relation to them. Considerable progress in how society regards animals has occurred since that time. 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, examining how relationships with pets help homeless people to 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 edit
Trade Review
"[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
"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
