Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-9-2020

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Public Policy Leadership

First Advisor

Catarina Passidomo Townes

Second Advisor

David Rutherford

Third Advisor

Joseph Holland

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

Americans eat an average of ninety pounds of chicken in one year, but where does that chicken come from? Immigrants and African Americans are the majority of the labor population in poultry processing plants located in the American South. In an effort to highlight the racism, sexism, insecurity, and environmental degradation in the poultry industry, I analyze a variety of ethnographies, articles, and science journals as well as U.S Supreme Court decisions and policies enacted by the U.S federal government in this thesis. Upon examination, I answer why society is pecking the hands that feed them. The analysis concludes that American consumers are unaware that they are pecking the hands that feed them. The exploitation of labor in agricultural industries has been an open secret for hundreds of years, allowing an exploitative culture to be accepted amongst consumers; therefore, the suffering of the poultry industry is allowed to continue undisturbed.

Accessibility Status

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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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