Open AccessKilling Them ‘Softly’ (!): Exploring Work Experiences in Care-Based Animal Dirty Work
Author(s) -
Linda Tallberg,
Peter Jeffrey Jordan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
work, employment and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1469-8722
pISSN - 0950-0170
DOI - 10.1177/09500170211008715
Subject(s) - cognitive dissonance , work (physics) , insider , ideology , secrecy , deception , ethnography , sociology , face (sociological concept) , social psychology , environmental ethics , criminology , psychology , public relations , political science , social science , law , politics , anthropology , mechanical engineering , philosophy , engineering
Working with animals is a daily occurrence for millions of people who often complete tasks which are tainted, in spite of the work being seen as essential in modern society. Animal shelter-work is such an occupation. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the caring–killing paradox (a dissonance that workers face when killing animals they are also caring for), through an insider ethnographic study. We find that care-based animal dirty work consists of unique ambiguities and tensions related to powerlessness, deception and secrecy in the work based on a ‘processing-plant’ framework which informs how workers deal with unwanted animals. We find competing ideologies of care and control to be foundational in this work.