Cat Culture: The Social World Of A Cat ShelterTemple University Press, 2003 - 239 pages Even people who live with cats and have good reason to know better insist that cats are aloof and uninterested in relating to humans. Janet and Steven Alger contend that the anti-social cat is a myth; cats form close bonds with humans and with each other. In the potentially chaotic environment of a shelter that houses dozens of uncaged cats, they reveal a sense of self and build a culture—a shared set of rules, roles, and expectations that organizes their world and assimilates newcomers.As volunteers in a local cat shelter for eleven years, the Algers came to realize that despite the frequency of new arrivals and adoptions, the social world of the shelter remained quite stable and pacific. They saw even feral cats adapt to interaction with humans and develop friendships with other cats. They saw established residents take roles as welcomers and rules enforcers. That is, they saw cats taking an active interest in maintaining a community in which they could live together and satisfy their individual needs. Cat Culture's intimate portrait of life in the shelter, its engaging stories, and its interpretations of behavior, will appeal to general readers as well as academics interested in human and animal interaction. |
Table des matières
The Myth of the Solitary Cat | 1 |
The World of Whiskers | 27 |
The HumanCat Connection | 50 |
The Social Bonds among the Cats | 91 |
The Feral Cats and Shelter Solidarity | 139 |
Leaving the Shelter Community | 155 |
Culture and Self in the Domestic Cat | 184 |
Animals in the Future of Sociology | 199 |
Afterword | 213 |
Notes | 215 |
References | 229 |
235 | |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Cat Culture: The Social World Of A Cat Shelter Janet Alger,Steven Alger Aucun aperçu disponible - 2003 |
Expressions et termes fréquents
ability affection aggression Alger allowed Amberlee animal rights asked became behavior Betty Bibbi and Lisa cage tops caged cats caretakers cat community cat culture Chapter Chimpanzees choices cleaner/feeders companion animals consciousness Dawkins described developed dogs domestic cats dominance dry food emerged emotions ethnographic euthanized example feeding feline females feral cat colonies feral cats free cats friendly cats friends friendship Glorianna goals human-animal human-cat community humans Janet Kate kitchen kitten Lil'Guy litter pan look male Marney Marquis Megan Merlin mother multi-cat needs norms notes observed orangutans owners perspective Philip picked plate play prospective adopters relationships responses self-awareness self-recognition shel shelter cats shelter community shelter officers shelter staff shelter volunteers sleeping spots snuggle Society and Animals sociologists Sociology Sociology of Emotions spayed or neutered species stray swatting symbolic interaction symbolic interactionism take the role territory tion took unteers Voith wanted Whiskers cats
Références à ce livre
Body/Embodiment: Symbolic Interaction and the Sociology of the Body Professor Dennis Waskul,Professor Phillip Vannini Aucun aperçu disponible - 2012 |