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The Psychological and Ideological Foundations of Meat Consumption, Vegetarianism, and Veganism

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The Psychological and Ideological Foundations of Meat Consumption, Vegetarianism, and Veganism THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF MEAT CONSUMPTION, VEGETARIANISM, AND VEGANISM BY MADELINE JUDGE A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Victoria University of Wellington 2014 ii Abstract Despite increasing evidence suggesting that plant-based diets may have multiple benefits over animal-based diets (e.g., Craig & Mangels, 2009; Stehfest, et al., 2009), vegetarians and vegans tend to represent a minority of most Western populations. This thesis investigated the social and ideological foundations of perceptions of vegetarians and vegans in Western societies, and also explored the potential role of visions of the future in motivating support for social change towards plant-based diets. For my first two studies, I adopted a mixed methods approach to understanding perceptions of vegetarians and vegans in Western societies (Creswell, 2014). Study 1 was a thematic analysis of 44 online discussion forums containing evaluations of vegetarians and vegans as social groups, and the analysis was informed by discursive and rhetorical psychology (Billig, 1996; Potter, 1996). In my interpretations of the data, I highlighted the flexible and argumentative nature of expressing ‘attitudes’ towards vegetarians and vegans. I also discussed these discourses in relation to the wider ideological dilemmas of liberal individualism, rationality versus emotions, diet and health, and the human-animal relationship. In Study 2, I drew on the discourses in Study 1 to develop a survey-based investigation of attitudes towards vegetarians and vegans, in a sample recruited from the general population of Aotearoa New Zealand (N = 1326). Two attitude measures were developed based on a previous scale assessing attitudes towards vegetarians (Chin, Fisak & Sims, 2002). Attitudes towards both vegetarians and vegans were generally positive; however, attitudes towards vegans were significantly less positive than attitudes towards vegetarians. Subsequent analyses tested two dual-process motivational models of social worldviews, ideological attitudes and outgroup attitudes (Duckitt, 2001), in the prediction of non-vegetarian attitudes towards vegetarians and vegans. The dual-process models fit the data well, suggesting that ideological motivations to maintain social cohesion and social inequality were associated with increasingly less positive attitudes towards vegetarians and vegans. I proposed that these associations may be due to vegetarians and vegans representing a challenge to social traditions, and a rejection of human dominance over animals. In Study 3, I adopted a mixed methods approach to understanding visions of plant- based futures, in a convenience sample of first-year university students (N = 506). Study iii 3a involved a thematic analysis of participants’ visions of potential future NZ societies, where most of the population now consumes plant-based, vegetarian, or vegan diets. Dominant themes included changes to health, the environment, and the economy, as well as changes to individual traits and values. In Study 3b, non-vegetarian participants were randomly assigned to imagine plant-based, vegetarian or vegan futures, and then completed a survey of collective future dimensions and support for plant-based policies (drawing from Bain, Hornsey, Bongiorno, Kashima, & Crimston, 2013). The strongest predictors of support for plant-based policies were visions of a vegetarian future as reducing societal dysfunction, and visions of a vegan future as increasing warmth in individuals. I concluded the thesis by reviewing the theoretical implications of the current research, discussing future research directions, and proposing some suggestions for the advocacy of plant-based diets. iv Acknowledgements I am very grateful to have had the support of many wonderful people in the years that I have been undertaking this thesis. Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Marc Wilson. Thank you for your support and guidance during our regular supervision meetings, for your constructive feedback on drafts, for encouraging me to attend conferences and submit manuscripts to journals, and just generally for being so positive and encouraging over the years. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to learn from you and to discuss so many interesting topics with you. I would like express my thanks to the students and members of the public who volunteered their time to participate in my research. I would also like to thank the School of Psychology Faculty for their friendly and helpful advice whenever I had questions or concerns, and Victoria University and the Scholarships Office for the generous scholarship provided to support this research. To my secondary supervisor, Tony Ward, thank you for the engaging and challenging discussions about animal ethics, our conversations have definitely expanded my thinking in this area. On a more personal note, to my partner Leah, thank you so much for joining me on this journey and for being there for me all these years. You have been so amazing, patient and generous with your time and energy, and I could not have done this without you. In particular, thank you for all the pep talks and encouragement, for the engaging and thought-provoking debates, and for proof-reading some of my chapters. Thank you to my family, in particular, Toby for your excellent proof-reading, and Mum and Dad for all your support and generosity. Thank you also to my friends, especially Amy, Hannah, Ailsa, Stacey, Jess, Raquel, and Georgina, among many others. Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my rat friends, Jumbo, Tweek and Whittaker, I miss you guys. v vi Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. v Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. vii List of Tables.......................................................................................................................xi List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xii Thesis Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 What is the Problem? ........................................................................................................ 1 Chapter One......................................................................................................................... 5 Meat Consumption, Vegetarianism, and Veganism in Western Cultures ......................... 5 A Brief History of Meat Consumption and Abstention ...................................................... 5 Defining the terms ‘vegetarian’ and ‘vegan’ ............................................................... 6 Contemporary Western vegetarianism as a social movement ...................................... 9 The Psychological Bases of Contemporary Veg*anism ................................................... 11 Demographic influences ........................................................................................... 11 Reported motivations for vegetarianism ................................................................... 11 Perceived benefits and barriers to vegetarianism in non-vegetarians ......................... 13 The symbolism of meat ............................................................................................ 13 Meat and masculinity ............................................................................................... 15 Differences in values between vegetarians and omnivores ........................................ 16 Social Aspects of Vegetarianism and Veganism .............................................................. 18 Perceptions of vegetarians and omnivores ................................................................ 19 Perceptions of vegans ............................................................................................... 21 The Current Research ...................................................................................................... 22 Boundaries of the research ....................................................................................... 22 Reflexive statement .................................................................................................. 24 Epistemological position and research design ........................................................... 25 Thesis overview ....................................................................................................... 26 vii Chapter Two...................................................................................................................... 29 A Rhetorical Analysis of Online Discussions about Vegetarians and Vegans ................ 29 Introduction to Study 1 ................................................................................................... 29 A discursive approach to discussions about vegetarians and vegans ......................... 30 Ideological dilemmas of common sense ................................................................... 31 Data Collection ..............................................................................................................
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