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Volume 35

Research in Political Economy, Volume 35

THE CAPITALIST COMMODIFICATION OF ANIMALS

Editors: Brett Clark, University of Utah, and Tamar Diana Wilson, independent scholar

While animal suffering and abuse have taken place throughout history, the alienation of humanity from nature caused by the development of capitalism - by the logic of capital and its system of generalized commodity production - accelerated and increased the depredations in scope and scale. The capitalist commodification of animals is extensive. It includes, but is not limited to: livestock production in concentrated animal feeding operations leather and fur production the ivory trade in which tusks are used for 'traditional medicines; or carved into decorative objects entertainment such as in zoos, marine parks, and circuses laboratory experimentation to test medicines, beauty products, pesticides, and other chemicals the pursuit of trophy hunting, sometimes on canned farms and sometimes in the wild bioengineering of livestock and of animals used in laboratories

The contributors to this special issue of Research in Political Economy provide insightful analyses that address the historical transformations in the material conditions and ideological conceptions of nonhuman animals, alienated speciesism, the larger ecological crisis that is undermining the conditions of life for all species, and the capitalist commodification of animals that results in widespread suffering, death, and profits. This book is a must-read not only for political economists, but also for researchers interested in animal studies, environmentalism, and sustainability.

The Capitalist Commodification of Animals: A Brief Introduction
Brett Clark and Tamar Diana Wilson

PART I: THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE COMMODIFICATION OF ANIMALS

It's Not Humans, It's Animal Capital!
Christian Stache

Animals and Nature: The Co-modification of the Sentient Biosphere
Paula Brügger

Abstract Life, Abstract Labor, Abstract Mind
Charles Thorpe and Brynna Jacobson

Mission Impossible? Reflections on Objectification and Instrumentalization of Animals in the Economy
Wolfgang Leyk

PART II: CASE STUDIES OF THE COMMODIFICATION OF ANIMALS

The Commodification of Living Beings in the Fur Trade: The Intersection of Cheap Raw Materials and Cheap Labor
Tamar Diana Wilson

Capitalism Has Granted Wolves a Temporary Reprieve from Extinction
Alexander Simon

The Landowners' Ethic: Aldo Leopold, Game Management, and Private Property
Cade Jameson

PART III: ARGENTINA'S WORKING CLASS

The Dynamics of Violence and Labor Conflict in Villa Constitución, Argentina, 1973–1975
Agustín Santella

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

INDEX

212 pages, 2020

Emerald Group Publishing Limited
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