Trump Veganism: A Political Survey of American Vegans in the Era of Identity Politics

Abstract

Often stereotyped as being apathetic to the human suffering, the American vegan movement has historically failed to build alliances with other social justice movements. As intersectional feminism gains a foothold in the movement and external political crises challenge the movement's frame of reference, the role that identity plays in movement progress has become a serious concern. Using the 2016 election as a flashpoint, this article considers if the identity backlash characterized by the Trump campaign finds parallels in the American vegan movement. A survey of 287 American vegans finds limited evidence of Trump veganism, defined here as a single-issue focus on speciesism that rejects the relevance of human-experienced systems of oppression. However, respondents do find that movement diversity efforts are insufficient, especially when controlling for race and gender. Most respondents were ethically-motivated vegans, liberal voters, and intersectionally-oriented activists who reported multiple engagements with various leftist movements. Only four percent of respondents voted Trump, while 14% agreed with or were neutral about Trump's campaign promise to put "America first". Those who were vegan for reasons of self-interest and had been vegan for less than a year were significantly more likely to support Trump's conservative agenda and were slightly less likely to participate in other social movements.

Food that Matters: Boundary Work and the Case for Vegan Food Practices

“…I n sociological studies of food, veganism is usually conceptualised as an eating practice (Twine 2018). This context of eating entails a focus on vegan consumers and their dietary choices, identities and attitudes (e.g., Beardsworth and Keil 1992;Larsson et al 2003;Wrenn 2017) as well as discourses on veganism (Cole and Morgan 2011). However, the practice as a whole exhausts itself neither in eating nor in individuals' identities.…”

White normativity, animal advocacy and PETA’s campaigns

“…A second point is that, even though many animal advocates are white, there are also identity characteristics of animal advocates that can make the advocacy less white normative; namely, that animal advocates tend to be liberal and left-leaning, and the left tends to be more empathetic to racial justice issues (Maurer, 2002; Wrenn, 2017).…”

“…Furthermore, it is important to point out that neither animal advocacy groups nor the movement itself are internally homogeneous. Some research suggests that many members of mainstream animal groups are also engaged in anti-racism, even though the organizations they support and the loudest voices in their organizations are not and promote covert racism; so, it is also the case that the loudest opinions voicing animal advocacy are not necessarily the most common (Wrenn, 2017).…”

“…Animal advocacy within white dominated nations like the USA and Europe is comprised primarily of white people (Wrenn, 2017). Whether such domination is intentional or not, mainstream movements comprised mostly of white people will, by default, shape their campaigns through what Arnold Farr (2004) refers to as 'white racialized consciousness'; that is, how white consciousness is collectively shaped via racist structures and ideologies.…”

Portraits of Veganism: A Comparative Discourse Analysis of a Second-Order Subculture

“…In recent years, films advocating veganism have been produced and widely distributed through popular streaming platforms such as Netflix (Los Gatos, CA, USA). In conjunction with previous literature on individuals' motivations for adopting a vegan diet and lifestyle [3][4][5], the time is ripe to complement examinations of lived veganism with a careful analysis of vegan-promoting media. This approach can blend prior literature on identity negotiation among vegans and vegetarians with an appreciation for the cultural rhetoric found in vegan-promoting films.…”