The Capitalist Commodification of Animals

While animal suffering and abuse have taken place throughout history, the alienation of humanity from nature caused by the development of capitalism - by the logic of capital and its system of generalized commodity production - accelerated and increased the depredations in scope and scale. The capitalist commodification of animals is extensive. It includes, but is not limited to: * livestock production in concentrated animal feeding operations * leather and fur production * the ivory trade in which tusks are used for 'traditional medicines; or carved into decorative objects * entertainment such as in zoos, marine parks, and circuses * laboratory experimentation to test medicines, beauty products, pesticides, and other chemicals * the pursuit of trophy hunting, sometimes on canned farms and sometimes in the wild * bioengineering of livestock and of animals used in laboratories The contributors to this special issue of Research in Political Economy provide insightful analyses that