Regarding Animals. Second Edition

As a scholar in this field for more than two decades, I have appreciated the first edition of this book for both its academic and pedagogical value. With the incredible development of human-animal studies since 1996, a second edition 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. In particular, its focus on the inconsistencies in how we “regard” other animals and how humans live with those contradictions appeals to students and scholars alike.The book is organized in three sections. The first section, “The Human-Animal Tribe,” presents and expands on the theoretical and methodological framework from the first edition. The second section, “Living with Contradiction,” presents eight chapters of empirical research, including four from the first edition and four new studies. The final section, “Paradox and Change,” summarizes the authors’ conclusions concerning how we regard other animals. The eight chapters drawing on the social scientific examination of our construction and application of contradictory meanings of animals in social settings move from the micro level to the macro level, examining those processes in interactions (Chapters 3–5), organizations (Chapters 6–8), and institutions and cultures (Chapters 9–10).It would be easy to criticize for omitted areas—but not everything can be covered, and decisions must be made about what to include. Four new chapters—studies of the homeless and their companions (“Pet Ownership on the Streets” by Irvine), how teenagers make sense of their abuse of animals (“Animal Abuse and Adolescents” by Arluke), the work of veterinary technicians (“Dirty Work and Good Intentions” by Sanders), and animals in the media (“Making News About Animals” by Irvine)—are diverse and inherently interesting examples of how we define and think about other animals and how that helps us understand our own attitudes and behavior. Further, they represent the best of qualitative sociological research.Some of the best scholarship in this area has been done by Leslie Irvine, including her work on animal selfhood (2004), the homeless and their companions (2013), and companion animals in natural disasters (2009). Thus, the addition of Irvine as an author and the incorporation of her scholarship in the second edition makes perfect sense. The notion of self is central to symbolic interaction theory, and Irvine's work not only has examined human selfhood, but she is the leading scholar on animal selfhood. Consequently, her work enhances an already excellent book—it is just the right fit and effectively rounds out this new version. In her chapter on “pet ownership” among the homeless, Irvine skillfully demonstrates how companion animals are used in identity work to mitigate against the stigma not only of being homeless but also as being perceived by the domiciled as unfit to have animal companions. Her analysis reveals “how contradictory meanings of animals shape identities and maintain inequality” (p. 73).Because of the rapid and extensive advancement of the field, the importance of updating the research and, where relevant, statistics reflecting the changing attitudes and treatment toward other animals, was critical—and the authors have done that. They summarize the development of the field of human-animal studies and provide an overview of how human attitudes and treatment of animals have changed over the last 25 years. Particularly important, they discuss the development of “multispecies ethnography,” a methodological approach that tries to correct for the anthropocentrism of earlier research by attempting to include the perspective of the animals themselves, framing them as “subjects-in-interaction.”Since the publication of the first edition, there has been an explosion of sociological scholarly texts (e.g., DeMello, 2012; Peggs, 2012; Taylor, 2012) and readers (e.g., Arluke & Sanders, 2008; Kalof & Fitzgerald, 2007) on human-animal studies that include a symbolic interactionist perspective alongside other theories. In addition, numerous books have emerged that focus on specific aspects of human-animal relationships, such as animals and work (Hamilton & Taylor, 2013), animal rights/animal welfare (Wrenn, 2016), and macro-level critiques of capitalist systems of animal oppression (e.g., Nibert, 2002, 2013). However, no other book examines such a variety of relational as well as institutional level human-animal interactions so thoroughly and expertly from a single theoretical perspective.As someone who used the first edition for several years, I can attest that its effective presentation of symbolic interactionist theory and research is appealing to students because it is understandable and thus readily applicable to their lives. The second edition continues the scholarly strengths and pedagogical advantages of the first, enabling the instructor to clearly introduce and explain a specific sociological theory and its related empirical approach to understanding interaction and to successfully demonstrate its application to making sense of how we think about and treat other animals.Ultimately, Arluke, Sanders, and Irvine present an approach that not only helps scholars and students alike to better understand ourselves, other animals, and our relationships with them, but also raises the challenge of interacting with animals ethically. Exposing and acknowledging the contradictions with which we view, and that characterize our behavior toward, other animals, along with recognizing them as minded, social actors, can illuminate paths of more respectful treatment as well.