Abstract
This chapter introduces the topic of the discursive construction of corporate harm and orients the work theoretically. The chapter also outlines the focus of the book, which is to answer the question of how agribusinesses culturally legitimize their harmful practices.
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Notes
- 1.
Beirne (1999) notes that although the use of the term “nonhuman animal” serves the purpose of connoting that humans are also animals, the term is not without problems. Beirne likens the use of the term “nonhuman animals” to the use of the term “non-male human,” where one person is defined negatively in terms of their relation to another. Nonetheless, the terms “animals” and “nonhuman animals” will be used interchangeably throughout the book.
- 2.
Please note that the separation between environment , humans, and animals is merely practical. I recognize that a broad definition of environment necessarily includes people and animals. Later in the book, I discuss specific harms and these categorizations (environment, humans, and animals) facilitate that discussion.
- 3.
I will use pronouns such as “they,” “them,” and “their” to refer to Tyson and other corporations throughout the book. Although these pronouns personify the corporation, referring to the corporations as “it” poses a greater issue as it discursively constructs the company as a nonagent (see Korten 1995).
- 4.
Note that the phrases “livestock producers” and “chicken producers” will be used throughout the book, although I find these terms inherently problematic as they imply that the animals require human intervention to exist. The terms “pork producers” and “beef producers” cause slightly less concern because the terms “pork” and “beef” refer not to the animals themselves, but to the meat that comes from these animals. These are examples of metonymy , explained in Appendix.
- 5.
ChartsBin is an online tool for creating charts and graphs. The ChartsBin website provides interactive charts and maps for several public data sets.
- 6.
The term “factory farm” is often used by animal activists to describe intensive animal farming as it connotes the poor conditions animals experience within industrial agriculture. The term is considered offensive, inaccurate, and nontechnical by those in the industry (see McCarty 2005).
- 7.
Note that Halsey later distanced himself from his 2004 work, stating that he is “less wedded” to the idea that “the term ‘green’ should be jettisoned from criminological discourse ” (Halsey 2013: 107).
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Schally, J.L. (2018). Introduction. In: Legitimizing Corporate Harm. Palgrave Studies in Green Criminology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67879-5_1
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