Abstract
Viewing animals as a disposable resource is by no means novel, but does milking the cow for all its worth now represent a previously unimaginable level of exploitation? New technology has intensified milk production fourfold over the last 50 years, rendering the cow vulnerable to various and frequent clinical interventions deemed necessary to meet the demands for dairy products. A major question is whether or not the veterinary code of practice fits, or is in ethical tension, with the administration of ‘efficient’ techniques, such as artificial insemination, to enhance reproduction levels among cattle? Vets perform these interventions and their ‘success’ is measured by the maximisation of milk production, requiring perpetually pregnant cows. Our empirical research on 33 farm vets explores how their professional ethical code promising to protect the welfare of the animal ‘above all else’, is increasingly in conflict with, and subordinate to, the financial demands of clients. Since vets cannot stand outside of the productive power–knowledge relations that have intensified the consumption of animal bodily parts and secretions, we argue that a process of adiaphorization’ (Bauman and Lyon, Liquid surveillance, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2013, p. 8) occurs, whereby humans become morally indifferent to cruel practices deemed necessary to our consumerist ways of life. However, this indifference reflects and reinforces a taken-for-granted anthropocentrism among vets, animal owners and the population generally. We suggest that posthumanist ideas may offer new insights for the study of human–animal relations in organisations that transcend the coercive and negative impact of discourses that deny any alternative to prevailing farm/veterinary practices. Our study has major implications in relation to climate warming and zoonotic diseases, both partly derived from our unethical relationship to animals, that are increasingly threatening our, and their, lives.
Highlights
We open with this quote from Kundera’s novel because it sums up in a few words what this article is about
Knights we critically examine their relations with dairy cows that, in practice, often conflict with the code of ethics established by their professional body
Speciesism refers to the way in which humans tend to maintain a hierarchy of values in relation to animals where some are valued greatly and others barely at all. We argue that this can readily morph into adiaphorization, where there is an indifference to the treatment of animals since they lie completely outside of any moral consideration (Clarke and Knights 2019)
Summary
We open with this quote from Kundera’s novel because it sums up in a few words what this article is about. Business ethics and organisation studies have all but ignored the animal at work (Labatut et al 2016), or animals as workers (Porcher and Schmitt 2012). 371), homogenised ‘others’ or ‘unwitting bearers of human culture’ (Hamilton and Taylor 2012), but the incorporation of animals within this field has generally perpetuated the anthropocentric segregation of animals and humans. By contrast, we focus on humans and animals as mutually constituted through entangled relations and everyday practical enactments of living (Hamilton and Taylor 2012). Knights we critically examine their relations with dairy cows that, in practice, often conflict with the code of ethics established by their professional body
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
