A mouse in a cage: how relations with laboratory animals can inform understandings of care

The ‘‘crisis of care’’ is often understood as an economic and political issue in which the work of caring for others has been devalued. However, this lens can overlook the experiences of those involved in care work. Can observing the treatment of rats and mice in biomedical science offer another understanding of care?

Drawing on ethnographic research into laboratory animals and those who look after them, Dr Carrie Friese’s new book, A Mouse in a Cage, proposes a different way of viewing, and valuing, care work.

Carrie Friese’s research is located at the intersections of medical sociology/sociology of health and illness with science and technology studies using largely qualitative research methods. She has been an innovator of Situational Analysis, which is a methodological extension of grounded theory, with Adele Clarke and Rachel Washburn. Friese has a general interest in relational and mixed-methods research and more-than-human sociologies.

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