The following research explores the growing stability of the relationship between the modern American animal rights and environmental movements in the aftermath of the 1960s counterculture. The movements have traditionally been considered by scholars in their separate contexts, because the movements had a tenuous and inconsistent relationship throughout their early histories. While the separate consideration of the movements may have been more appropriate for research prior to the 1960s, the movements became increasingly intertwined through various influences of the counterculture. The counterculture introduced new philosophies, utilitarianism and deep ecology, to the movements that united them through their mutual distaste for anthropocentrism and industrialization. The counterculture also provided animal rights and environmental advocates with alternative lifestyles with which to promote their goals and affect real change. The movements began to most clearly unite in their mutual campaigns against the intensive animal farming industry, more controversially and widely known as “factory farming.” Both movements utilized the philosophies introduced to their movements to argue against the moral ills of the industry. Hence, they identified a need to actively combat the effects of the meat industry and have since advocated a widespread adoption of the vegetarian lifestyle among the American public.

Previous psychological research on vegetarianism has focused primarily on participants' health and weight concerns, and the process by which people adopt a vegetarian diet. The present studies broaden this research by exploring the differences in the way omnivores and vegetarians perceive animals and people whose diets do or do not include meat. In Study 1, participants reported their willingness to eat a series of animal- and vegetable-sourced foods, as well as their perceptions of the animals’ qualities. In Study 2, participants reported their impressions of a hypothetical student’s character and personality, basing their inferences on a short profile that indicated the student’s dietary choices as either omnivorous or vegetarian. Our findings in Study 1 suggest that the decision to eat or not eat animals is chiefly a function of disgust at the thought of eating them and how often one has seen them for sale in a store, but also affected by such diverse factors as perceptions of their intelligence, capacity for pain and suffering, appearance, and similarity to humans. In Study 2, both omnivores and vegetarians rated the vegetarian student targets as more virtuous and ethical than the omnivorous student targets. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide, 2001. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 1, 2005). Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-346).

Det uppskattas att 15 % av utsläppen av växthusgaser kommer frånanimalieproduktion och ett effektivt sätt för att uppnå klimatmålen är att ändra och minska vårkonsumtion av kött- och mejeriprodukter. Den vegetariska kosten har blivit allt mer populärbland dagens ungdomar och många ungdomar väljer bort köttet, det finns dock fortfarande ettmotstånd bland en del ungdomar till att äta mer vegetariskt. Denna kvalitativa studie syftar tillatt undersöka ungdomars syn på vegetarianer och vegetarianism. Data samlades in genomsemistrukturerade intervjuer med tolv ungdomar. Materialet analyserades med induktivtematisk analys som genererade i fyra huvudteman Engagemang för djur och natur,Vegetarianismens två sidor, Normbrytande eller ej, Vegetarianer är feminina och enkärnkategori: I gränslandet. Studiens resultat visar att ungdomar har en mångfacetterad ochambivalent syn där både positiva och negativa aspekter gällande vegetarianer ochvegetarianism lyfts. Då tidigare forskning främst funnit att det finns en negativ syn påvegetarianer och vegetarianism och då resultatet av denna studie visar på en mångfacetteradoch ambivalent syn hos samtliga ungdomar, kan detta tyda på att synen på vegetarianer ochvegetarianism är i förändring. Denna studie bidrar till att öka kunskapen gällande synen påvegetarianer och vegetarianism. / It is estimated that 15 % of greenhouse gas emissions come from animal productionand an effective way to achieve the climate goals is to change and reduce our consumption ofmeat and dairy products. The vegetarian diet has increased in popularity among adolescentsand many adolescents are opting out of the meat, however, there is still resistance amongsome adolescents to eat more vegetarian food. This qualitative study aims to investigateadolescents view of vegetarians and vegetarianism. Data was collected through semistructuredinterviews with twelve adolescents. The data was analyzed with inductive thematicanalysis which generated four main themes: Dedication To Animals and Nature, Two Sides ofVegetarianism, Norm-Breaking or Not, Vegetarians are Feminine and a core category: On theBorder Country. The results of the study indicate that adolescents have a multifaceted andambivalent view where both positive and negative aspects regarding vegetarians andvegetarianism are raised. As previous research has primarily found a negative view onvegetarians and vegetarianism and since the multifaceted and ambivalent view that waspresent in this study was found among all adolescents, this may indicate that the view onvegetarians and vegetarianism is changing. The present study helps to increase the knowledgeabout the view on vegetarians and vegetarianism.

Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert K. Schaeffer / Following a strict form of vegetarianism, vegans adopt a philosophy and practice a lifestyle that seeks to eliminate the use of all animal products and by-products in any form. Although vegetarian diets have been popular in many cultures for centuries, a more organized and defined version of veganism as we know it today did not emerge until the mid-1940s. Although the origins and nature of vegetarianism and veganism have been researched in depth for decades, this lifestyle has scarcely been evaluated as a social movement. Therefore, I seek to fill this gap in knowledge and describe veganism as a social movement and evaluate its social effects. I have gathered historical and sociological data and theories from a variety of sources. I combine this data in order to thoroughly illustrate the history, nature, and future of vegans as a social movement and show how it has contributed to social change. The sociological definitions of what constitutes a social movement as described by Charles Tilly and Sidney Tarrow will illustrate the many ways vegans can be viewed as a social movement. A synthesis of these two social scientists’ definitions in the analysis of vegans as a social movement will show that vegans meet both Tilly and Tarrow’s criteria for a social movement. I will use these criteria as a framework to show how vegans’ activity and growth fit into Tilly and Tarrow’s theoretical outline for what constitutes a social movement. Further, I use other evidence such as polls and news articles in order to support this idea, showing the movement behaviors of vegans in Western culture.

The interest in vegetarianism and veganism is increasing and the dietary option of abstaining from animal food products is currently a widely discussed and social relevant issue.The present study aims to provide a quantitative overview of the vegan diet, particularly the sociological aspects related to adoption, maintenance and obstacles connected with this diet. A web-based survey was conducted on facebook groups related tovegetarianism and veganism. 8531 participants (86.3% females) answered the survey, from those 6761 were vegan. Moral/ethical, animal and environmental protection, and health benefits seem to be the main reasons to adopt a vegan diet. Furthermore, demographic factors seem to have an effect on both the adoption and maintenance of a vegan diet. Younger participants appear to put more relevance on ethical/moral reasons, environmental and animal protection for adopting and maintaining a vegan diet. Living in a vegan household suggests less perceived difficulties and obstacles to the maintenance of a vegan diet and highers the relevance of moral/ethical reasons, environmental and animal protections as main motivations for a vegan diet. Also, being a female seems to higher health benefits as a source of inspiration to start a vegan diet but it also seems to increase the perceived difficulties.

Det finns många faktorer som påverkar det vegetariska matvalet och syftet med uppsatsen är att synliggöra dessa faktorer. Varför väljer individen att äta en vegetarisk kost? För att identifiera orsakerna valdes en kvalitativ metod där sex semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomfördes. Analysmetoden som användes för att ta fram uppsatsens tre teman var tematisk analys. Uppsatsen bygger även på tidigare forskning inom området där en redogörelse för vad en vegetarisk kost är och vad som kan påverka individen i hennes matval. Vidare redogörs det för hur respondenternas definition av en vegetarisk kost ser ut. Studiens resultat visar på att både yttre och inre faktorer påverkade respondenterna i deras val av en vegetarisk kost. Resultatet diskuterades med teorin symbolisk interaktionism.

Inquiry into how social movements affect change has historically been grounded in either sociology or communication studies and has focused primarily on collective action in public spheres. However, important movement activity also takes place in the private sphere between individuals. Such interactions fall outside of traditional definitions of collective action and are often absent from contemporary social movement theory.One social movement that cannot be studied adequately using existing theory and methods is the American ethical vegetarian movement. To correct this oversight in social movement theory, this dissertation undertakes a rhetorical study of the ethical vegetarian movement, focusing not only on collective action but also on the role of personal interaction in identity formation, participant recruitment, and participant mobilization. A major finding of this study is that personal interaction is the primary reason why individuals choose to adopt and advocate a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. In order to establish how movement rhetoric works, the dissertation includes rhetorical analyses of cookbooks, organization literature, media representation, interviews with movement advocates, and vegetarian conversion narratives, collected through a national survey. The author explores the use and consequences of unintentional, religious, and embodied rhetoric as means of confrontation and conversion in the ethical vegetarian movement.In this dissertation, Patricia Malesh argues for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of social movements that includes inquiry into personal interaction as movement activity. Such an inquiry clarifies the relationship between personal and collective identities and deconstructs the dichotomy between private and public spheres. She also establishes a rhetorical definition of individual movements, which exposes the interplay between movement goals and methods of persuasion and helps differentiate between similar movements (e.g., vegetarian and animal rights movements) and align those that are seemingly unrelated (e.g., vegetarian and feminist movements). The author concludes by discussing the future of the ethical vegetarian movement in the face of globalization and incorporation. She argues that rhetoricians--those who study the practice and implications of communication--should contribute more consistently to the study of how social identity is negotiated through language and action in social movements.

The goal of the diploma thesis is comparison between vegetarianism and healthy lifestyle of adolescents. The theoretical part is focused on related bibliography. The vegetarianism is described from its beginning to nowadays. Also the phenomenon of healthy lifestyle and characteristics of important stage of life {--} adolescent are described. The second part is focused on the comparison itself. Comparison was performed on questionnaire placed on websites. Obtained data were statistically analysed by Statistica 7 and WEKA applications. Results from both methods proved that non-vegetarians part of population consume more alcohol and smokes more than the vegetarians part of population.