Animals and Capital - (Animalities) by Dinesh Joseph Wadiwel

About the Book

The first systematic application of Marx's value theory to animal labour within the context of capitalist food systems

Book Synopsis

In the 20th 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.

From the Back Cover

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.

Review Quotes

Animals and Capital is something like a preliminary Das Kapital for food animal production. Wadiwel takes up the critical tools bequeathed by Marx's later work in order to take the spirit of Capital beyond itself. The result is a work that is extremely clarifying for understanding the path that anthropocentric domination has taken over the last century, and more importantly, opens up worthwhile further questions and avenues for analysis.--Jishnu Guha-Majumdar, Butler University "Humanimalia"

Wadiwel offers a profound critique that reorients how we understand the exploitation of nonhuman animals under capitalism. [...] Through its exploration of hierarchical anthropocentrism, capitalist drive for surplus value, and animal labour as a fundamental component of that surplus, Animals and Capital provides a compelling framework for envisioning a more just, multispecies future - one that reimagines liberation as a shared struggle against exploitation in a more-than-human form.--Gizem Haspolat, Rice University "Animal Studies Journal"

Offers a groundbreaking systematic account of food animals within the capitalist mode of production [...] Wadiwel argues that by centring animals' labour power, and by shifting the site of contestation from meat consumption to its production, animal advocates can open up greater prospects for the building of genuine alliances with both trade unions and Indigenous peoples.--Dominic O'Key "The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory"

Wadiwel's book is an insightful discussion about what typically counts politically as exploitation, violence, and resistance within capitalism.--M. A. Betz, Rutgers University "CHOICE"

In this brilliant follow up to The War Against Animals, Dinesh Wadiwel delves into the specific ways that the lives and deaths of animals in industrial agriculture are completely structured by capitalist logics of value. Animals and Capital is a profoundly important work of critical animal theory, providing a comprehensive, carefully researched, and accessible analysis that moves beyond familiar moralized critiques of the food system. A must read for anyone who longs for a world free of domination that promotes multispecies flourishing.-- "Lori Gruen, Wesleyan University"

About the Author

Dinesh Joseph Wadiwel is Associate Professor in Socio-Legal Studies and Human Rights at the University of Sydney. His research interests include theories of violence, critical animal studies and disability rights. He is author of The War against Animals (Brill, 2015) and is co-editor, with Matthew Chrulew of Foucault and Animals (Brill, 2016). He has a background working within civil society organisations, including in anti-poverty and disability rights roles.