Institutional change and the limitations of consumer activism

Abstract

Organizations that aim to encourage or mitigate social change frequently face strategic trade-offs between changing the behaviour of individuals or institutions. This paper provides a conceptual analysis of this trade-off and an initial case study on the grand challenge of industrial animal agriculture. The nascent movement attempting to address this global issue has so far heavily focused on changing individual consumption with central messages like 'go vegan' and tactics like handing out pro-vegetarian leaflets. This paper critiques that focus, proposing instead what we call an institutional approach that focuses on changing governments, firms, social norms, and the like, particularly through developing and commercializing new food technologies. This paper argues from a perspective of effective altruism, aiming to maximize positive impact, that an increased use of the institutional approach may help organizations more effectively achieve their ethical goals. There are some cost-effective uses for the individual approach, so it should not be abandoned entirely, but a significant reduction may be prudent, at least in this context, and further research is warranted on this trade-off in other social contexts.

Ideological resistance to veg*n advocacy: An identity-based motivational account

“…While vegan principles may be reconcilable with regenerative, agroecological practices through veganic farming, it also remains questionable whether regenerative practices can function on any significant scale without functionalities of animals (e.g., manure) (see Weis & Ellis, 2021 ). In either case, we concur a radical rethinking of human-animal and environmental relationships is required ( UNEP, 2020 ; Weis and Ellis, 2021 ) and momentum is growing to improve public and animal health systems ( Cornish et al, 2016 ; UNEP, 2020 ), to urgently safeguard and restore terrestrial, marine and aerial wildlife habitats ( Ripple et al, 2017 ; Stoll-Kleemann and Schmidt, 2017 ; Willett et al, 2019 ) and to legally recognize and protect farmed animals as sentient beings ( Francione, 2020 ; Reese, 2020 , 2021 ).…”

The Effects of Exposure to Information about Animal Welfare Reforms on Animal Farming Opposition: A Randomized Experiment

“…However, it is unclear whether animal welfare reforms also affect willingness to support further institutional changes (i.e. animal farming opposition); such attitudes seem likely to be crucial to the farmed animal movement's future success or failure (Reese, 2020). For example, research frequently identifies public opinion as an important factor affecting legislative and judicial outcomes (e.g.…”