At home, he’s a pet, at work he’s a colleague and my right arm

Police Dogs and the Emerging Posthumanist Agenda

Bibliographic Data

ID8070146
AuthorsCharles Knight (0000-0002-4356-0994, Edge Hill University Business School, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK), Katherine J C Sang (0000-0003-1397-1116, Heriot-Watt University, corresponding author), Kate Sang (Department of Business Management, Heirot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK)
Year2019
Volume26
Issue5-6
Pages355-371
Publication date2019-05-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture and Organization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1475-9551 • E-ISSN: 1477-2760
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14759551.2019.1622544
OpenAlexW2947165240
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited83

Increased attention is being paid to non-human animals, inspired in part by Human-Animal Studies and theoretical frameworks which reveal the fragility of human/animal dualism. Via the application of posthumanist performativity, we explore the recruitment and careers of police dogs via organisational analysis. It reveals a complex process of a dog becoming a police dog. Police dogs are placed within a speciesist hierarchy where they hold a position of ‘good’ non-human animals, rather than instrumental tools of the organisation. However, this position is tenuous, with dogs’ retirement often resulting in death. The paper concludes by arguing that posthumanist frameworks can be used to decentre the human subject. Contributions of our work include empirical insights on the use of non-human animals in policing coupled with the theoretical application of posthumanism to intersubjectivity in organisations

Biopower · Dualism · Epistemology · Hierarchy · Non-human · Performativity · Political science · Posthumanism · Sociology · Adventure Sports and Sensation Seeking · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub