Gordon Hodson

Kristof Dhont

This unique book brings together research and theorizing on human-animal relations, animal advocacy, and the factors underlying exploitative attitudes and behaviors towards animals. Why do we both love and exploit animals? Assembling some of the world’s leading academics and with insights and experiences gleaned from those on the front lines of animal advocacy, this pioneering collection breaks new ground, synthesizing scientific perspectives and empirical findings. The authors show the complexities and paradoxes in human-animal relations and reveal the factors shaping compassionate versus exploitative attitudes and behaviors towards animals. Exploring topical issues such as meat consumption, intensive farming, speciesism, and effective animal advocacy, this book demonstrates how we both value and devalue animals, how we can address animal suffering, and how our thinking about animals is connected to our thinking about human intergroup relations and the dehumanization of human groups. This is essential reading for students, scholars, and professionals in the social and behavioral sciences interested in human-animal relations, and will also strongly appeal to members of animal rights organizations, animal rights advocates, policy makers, and charity workers.

Bridging Insights from Academia and Advocacy

Why We Love and Exploit Animals

Miles Hewstone

Intergroup contact remains one of the most effective means to reduce prejudice and conflict between groups. The past decade has witnessed a dramatic resurgence of interest in this time-tested phenomenon, with researchers now focusing on understanding when, why, and for whom contact does (and does not) work. This new volume focuses on one of the hottest topics in the social sciences: prejudice. Covering not only basic principles but cutting-edge findings and theoretical directions, key questions surrounding this subject are addressed, such as: how perceptions of other groups lead to anxiety and avoidance; how cross-group contact influences the development of prejudice in children; whether highly-prejudiced people benefit from contact; how status and power influence the effectiveness of contact. In addition to exploring methodological challenges facing contact researchers, attention is devoted to prejudice interventions that are rooted in our understanding of contact effects. These range from zero-acquaintance contact to intimate cross-group friendships, and even involve simulated contact experiences. This volume draws together world-renowned experts in prejudice and intergroup contact to provide a long-awaited update on the state of affairs in intergroup contact research. As well as synthesizing and integrating the key topics, it also provides possible new directions for future research. Given the prominence of contact as a powerful prejudice-reduction tool, this book is a must-read for students and scholars of social psychology and sociology, as well as policy-makers and practitioners.

Gordon Hodson

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