Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Research Articles
Published: 2017-10-30

Humane Jobs: A Political Economic Vision for Interspecies Solidarity and Human–Animal Wellbeing

Brock University
##plugins.generic.jatsParser.article.authorBio##
×

Kendra Coulter

Kendra Coulter is an associate professor in labour studies at Brock University, Canada. An award-winning author, her latest book is Animals, Work, and the Promise of Interspecies Solidarity (2016).

Abstract

The economy and workforce are crucial spaces of struggle and possibility for human and animal wellbeing. In addition to critiques of harmful patterns and practices, more intellectual and political work is needed to develop and foster workforce solutions and alternatives. The problems are political and economic so the solutions must be, as well. An essential component of such a project and vision are what I call humane jobs which, succinctly, are jobs that are good for people and animals, and that are underscored by multispecies respect. In this paper, I elucidate a preliminary vision of and for humane jobs. The driving questions are these: what areas of work and which jobs benefit humans and animals, and how can more of them be created? I argue for both the creation of new jobs and employment sectors, and the improvement of some current positions in order to make them more humane.