Zoo Culture

By Bob Mullan, Garry Marvin, Robert Mullan

Book Overview

Why do people go to zoos? Is the role of zoos to entertain or to educate?
In this provocative book, the authors demonstrate that zoos tell us as
much about humans as they do about animals and suggest that while animals
may not need zoos, urban societies seem to.
A new introduction takes note of dramatic changes in the perceived role
of zoos that have occurred since the book's original publication.
"Bob Mullan and Garry Marvin delve into the assumptions about animals
that are embedded in our culture. . . . A thought-provoking glimpse of
our own ideas about the exotic, the foreign." -- Tess Lemmon, BBC
Wildlife Magazine
"A thoughtful and entertaining guided tour." -- David White,
New Society
" An] unusual and intriguing combination of historical survey, psychological
enquiry, and compendium of fascinating facts." -- Evening Standard

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0252067622
• ISBN13: 9780252067624
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Sociological Take on Zoos

Zoo Culture is a well researched and thoughtful book on the history, function, and cultural meaning of zoos in the world today. The authors do not simply accept the zoo as unproblematic. They attempt to show that zoos, rightly or wrongly, are used to define the difference between human and animal, a contention that the idea of being 'human' is not natural but socially constructed. Their account is certainly not an endorsement of zoos, perhaps even on the contrary, laying out the argument that zoos are ultimately expressions of power by a domineering society.