Free Market Dogs: The Human-Canine Bond in Post-Communist Poland

“The collapse of Soviet-era communism in Poland in 1989 ushered in not only democracy and free market capitalism but also a cultural revolution in people’s attitudes to, and relations with, Canis familiaris. Free Market Dogs provides a fascinating and nuanced account of what happens to a country when long-standing socioeconomic obstacles to dog keeping are suddenly removed.”

(James A. Serpell, Marie A. Moore Professor of Animal Ethics & Welfare and Director, Center for the Interaction of Animals & Society, University of Pennsylvania)

“How could such a human activity as the democratization of Poland have anything to do with dogs? In this deeply insightful volume, this question is answered in ways that illuminate not only the impact of political transformation on human lives, but also on our relationships with the more than human world. Free Market Dogs will be of broad interest to animal studies scholars exploring the varying ways that human and animal lives are entangled not just with each other, but with the social, political, and economic institutions that shape the ways we live.” (Lori Gruen, William Griffi n Professor of Philosophy, Wesleyan University)

“Free Market Dogs opens our minds to the dramatic changes in Polish people’s relationships with dogs following the fall of communist control of Eastern Europe, when Western ideas poured into Poland after years of restriction. Readers will be surprised by the ways that culture, nationality, and legislation can dramatically change how we think about and experience our so often intimate relationships with dogs, and moved by the deep feelings that are present in our centuries-old friendship with them. While maintaining a focus on Poland, Free Market Dogs delivers a story of universal appeal to those who love dogs.” (Robert W. Mitchell, Foundation Professor of Psychology and Animal Studies, Eastern Kentucky University)

Michał Piotr Pręgowski received his PhD in sociology from the University of Warsaw in 2008 and works as an assistant professor at the Warsaw University of Technology. He also is a Fulbright grantee in the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program. Pręgowski’s academic specialties are sociology of norms and values, and human-animal studies. His current research projects include social construction of dogs in the contemporary West, especially their naming and training, as well as social practices of commemorating companion animals.