The Sacrifice: How Scientific Experiments Transform Animals and People

Lynda I. A. Birke, Arnold Arluke, Mike Michael

Purdue University Press, 2007 - Animal experimentation - 224 pages

The Sacrifice provides a uniquely detailed account of the sociological context of animal experimentation. The authors provide a rich analysis of complex and changing role of the laboratory animal in the political and scientific culture of the United States and the United Kingdom. By understanding the interplay of the groups, the authors view the experimental controversy as an ongoing and constantly recreated set of social processes, not just a problem of morality.

Contents

• INTRODUCING LAB ANIMALS: 17
• Enter the Lab Animal: 19
• Who or What Is The Lab Animal?: 21
• Standardization or Diversity?: 26
• Creating Identities: 28
• The Animal Model and Scientific Practice: 35
• The Placelessness of Laboratories: 37
• Producing Knowledge: 40
• Standardization and Replicability: 42
• Animal Models?: 46
• Modeling Standardization and Transgenics: 49
• ImplicationsGeneralizing from Animal Models: 51
• Lab Animal Identities: 54
• Representing Animals Unsung Heroes and Partners in Research: 57
• The Lab Animal in Scientific Articles: 58
• Animals in Laboratory Advertisements: 62
• Emerging Identities and Animal Representations: 69
• ACQUIRING IDENTITIES: 75
• Becoming a Biologist: 77
• Learning to Dissect: 79
• Using Live Animals: 83
• Cyberfrogs and Meanings: 88
• Dissecting Identities: 90
• The Division of Emotional Labor: 93
• Shared Coping Skills: 95
• The Technicians Burden: 99
• Coping Strategies and Emerging Identities: 106
• Organizing and Regulating Lab Work: 111
• Demarcating Social Boundaries: 114
• Regulating Research: 119
• Managing Identities: 127
• CONFRONTING THE PUBLIC: 129
• Politics Animal Rights Activism and the Battle for Hearts and Minds: 133
• Activists as Antihuman: 134
• Activists as Dishonest: 136
• Activists as Criminal: 139
• Occupying the Middle Ground: 142
• Surely Theyre Worth a Few Laboratory Animals?: 146
• New Dilemmas and Research Advocacy?: 149
• Rationality Stigma and the General Public: 153
• Dealing with Stigma: 154
• Managing Reproach: 157
• Excluding Irrational Others: 161
• Whose Views Get to Count?: 163
• Who Has the Expertise about Animals?: 167
• Confronting the Public: 170
• Making Publics Scientists and Laboratory Animals: 173
• What Does the Public Think?: 176
• Calculating Costs and Benefits: 179
• From Strain and Model to Hybrid and Product: 182
• Making and Unmaking Animals and People: 185
• Who or What Is the Laboratory Animal?: 187
• Notes: 191
• References: 203
• Index: 217

About the author

Linda Birke received her Ph.D in biology, specializing in animal behavior. She has also focused on the social studies of science, particularly from feminist perspectives, and has written extensively on these themes.

Arnold Arluke is Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University and Senior Scholar at Tufts University Center for Animals and Public Policy. He has published over 70 articles and eight books.

Mike Michael is Professor of Sociology of Science and Technology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has a PhD in social psychology, and has written extensively on social psychology and social theory.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Sacrifice: How Scientific Experiments Transform Animals and People; New directions in the human-animal bond
• Authors: Lynda I. A. Birke, Arnold Arluke, Mike Michael
• Publisher: Purdue University Press, 2007
• ISBN: 1557534322, 9781557534323
• Length: 224 pages