Le programme ANR COW : l’ouverture d’un front de recherches inédit sur le travail animal

Résumé Fr En

Les animaux travaillent-ils ? C’est la question qu’a posée le programme ANR COW (2012-2016). En rupture avec l’idée que le travail est un propre de l’homme, nous avons fait l’hypothèse que les animaux étaient aussi des acteurs du travail et qu’il était possible d’étudier leurs contributions au travail avec les outils des sciences sociales. Nous avons exploré leurs rapports au travail dans différents terrains professionnels, y compris l’élevage où nous avons mis en débats leur abattage. Nos résultats montrent qu’il existe un travailler animal. Les animaux investissent leur subjectivité et leur affectivité dans le travail et leur agentivité déborde largement le travail prescrit. L’organisation de deux grands colloques, la publication d’articles, d’un ouvrage et d’un film nous ont permis de diffuser ces résultats et de les mettre en discussion dans le champ des SHS.

The COW program: an innovative research on animal workDo animals work? Such is the question raised by the ANR COW program (2012-2017). Breaking with the idea that work is a unique feature of humans, we made the hypothesis that animals also are actors of work and that their contributions to work may be investigated using the theories and methods of social sciences, especially the psychodynamics of work. We explored the animal’s relationship towards work in different professional fields, including animal husbandry. Regarding this topic we discuss the slaughtering of animals and its legitimacy. Our results in this particular area show that, especially for moral reasons, animal farmers urgently need alternatives to industrial slaughterhouses. Our results on the question of animal work show that animals also have their own way of working. They engage their subjectivity, their intelligence and their affectivity in work. Their agentivity goes much further than the prescribed work procedures. This means that animals have a precise idea of the work objectives: they are not conditioned or mechanized, they take initiatives, they can manœuvre to avoid work rules or avert them. Our results show that trust and affectivity are key elements in the animal’s involvement in work. These results have been publicized through two important colloquiums, the publication of scientific and popularization articles as well as a book and a film. This output serves as a base to discuss our results concerning animals within the field of social and human sciences both in France and in other countries.