Just a Dog : Understanding Animal Cruelty and Ourselves /

Arluke, Arnold.

Just a Dog : Understanding Animal Cruelty and Ourselves / Arnold Arluke. - 1 online resource (232 pages). - Animals, culture, and society. . - Book collections on Project MUSE. .

Agents: feigning authority -- Adolescents: appropriating adulthood -- Hoarders: shoring up self -- Shelter workers: finding authenticity -- Marketers: Celebrating community -- Cruelty is good to think.

Open Access

Psychiatrists define cruelty to animals as a psychological problem or personality disorder. Legally, animal cruelty is described by a list of behaviors. In Just a Dog, Arnold Arluke argues that our current constructs of animal cruelty are decontextualized--imposed without regard to the experience of the groups committing the act. Yet those who engage in animal cruelty have their own understandings of their actions and of themselves as actors. In this fascinating book, Arluke probes those understandings and reveals the surprising complexities of our relationships with animals. Just a Dog draws from interviews with more than 250 people, including humane agents who enforce cruelty laws, college students who tell stories of childhood abuse of animals, hoarders who chronically neglect the welfare of many animals, shelter workers who cope with the ethics of euthanizing animals, and public relations experts who use incidents of animal cruelty for fundraising purposes.


In English.

9781592134731




Human-animal relationships--Psychological aspects.
Animal welfare.
Animal rights.
SOCIAL SCIENCE--General.
SOCIAL SCIENCE--General.
NATURE--Animal Rights.
SOCIAL SCIENCE--General.
NATURE--Animal Rights.
Relations homme-animal--Aspect psychologique.
Animaux--Droits.
Human-animal relationships--Psychological aspects.
Animal rights.
Animal welfare.


Computer network resources.
Electronic books.