A contrast to the frequent studies of relationships betwixt humans & companion animals, this volume explores the engagement or disengagement of people who farm, show & slaughter animals, working in the countryside, in auction marts & abattoirs.

The connection between people and companion animals has received considerable attention from scholars. In her original and provocative ethnography "Livestock/Deadstock," sociologist Rhoda Wilkie asks, how do the men and women who work on farms, in livestock auction markets, and slaughterhouses, interact withOCoor disengage fromOCothe animals they encounter in their jobs?

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Wilkie provides a nuanced appreciation of how those men and women who breed, rear, show, fatten, market, medically treat, and slaughter livestock, make sense of their interactions with the animals that constitute the focus of their work lives. Using a sociologically informed perspective, Wilkie explores their attitudes and behaviors to explain how agricultural workers think, feel, and relate to food animals.

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"Livestock/Deadstock" looks at both people and animals in the division of labor and shows how commercial and hobby productive contexts provide male and female handlers with varying opportunities to bond with and/or distance themselves from livestock. Exploring the experiences of stockpeople, hobby farmers, auction workers, vets and slaughterers, she offers timely insight into the multifaceted, gendered, and contradictory nature of human roles in food animal production. a