Animals and Capital

Provides a systematic theoretical account of food animals under capitalism In the twentieth century, capitalist animal agriculture emerged with a twofold mission: to ruthlessly exploit animals for their labour time and enlarge human food supplies. The results of this process are clear. Animal sourced foods have expanded exponentially. And simultaneously, hundreds of billions of animals confront humans and machines in brutal, antagonistic relations shaped by domination and resistance. Building on Karl Marx's value theory, Dinesh Joseph Wadiwel argues that factory farms and industrial fisheries are not merely an example of unchecked human supremacism. Nor a result of the victory of market forces. But a combination of both. In Animals and Capital Wadiwel untangles this contemporary handshake between hierarchical anthropocentrism and capitalism. Dinesh Joseph Wadiwel is Associate Professor of Socio-Legal Studies and Human Rights at the University of Sydney.