Boundary Labor and the Production of Emotionless Commodities: The Case of Beef Production

Abstract

This study examines cattle producers' work in conventional U.S. beef production. Producers express emotional connection to cattle, but also treat cattle as economic assets. Balancing these perspectives is central to their work. This article introduces the concept of “boundary labor” to describe the way producers' emotion management separates cattle physically and emotionally from products derived from their bodies. Producers have three central emotional skills that make this labor possible. They include (1) a sense of responsibility, (2) sentiments of dominion, and (3) faith in the cycle of production.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to thank Leslie Irvine for her guidance and mentorship. I also owe thanks to Patty Adler, Amy Wilkins, Clint Sanders, and the anonymous reviewers of The Sociological Quarterly.

NOTES

Notes

¹ Of the 34.1 million head of beef cattle slaughtered in 2011, 49.3 percent were steers, 29 percent were heifers, 11.3 percent were cows, and 1.7 percent were bulls. Cows coming from dairies and non-cow-calf beef cattle producers represented 8.7 percent of the total.

² The people who work on the slaughterhouse “kill floors” actually kill cattle. This work is very difficult emotionally, and the occupation has notoriously high turnover rates (see Erickson 1994, 2002). Kill floors are specifically designed to minimize interaction between people and live cattle. This lack of interaction means that slaughterhouse work serves a very different purpose than ranching.

³ All names have been replaced with pseudonyms to protect confidentiality.

⁴ Like all rancher and cattle names in this article, Cupcake is a pseudonym. The real Cupcake was named after a different pastry.

⁵ A teaser steer is a castrated male animal used to trick a bull into thinking he is a cow so that the bull will try to mount him. Once the bull mounts the steer, a heated artificial vagina is slipped over his penis to collect the semen.

⁶ “Bottle calves” are calves who do not have a female cow to provide them with milk. These calves must be fed using a large bottle or a bucket fitted with a rubber teat and filled with formula.