Speciesism and Perceptions of Animal Farming Practices as Predictors of Meat Consumption in Australia and Hong Kong

Abstract

Many people care about animals and do not wish to cause them harm yet continue to eat them. Past research, largely in Western cultural contexts, has found that people’s meat consumption is negatively related to how much they know about animal farming practices, and positively related to their endorsement of speciesism (the assignment of moral worth based on species membership). Little is known, however, about how these variables are related to meat consumption in non-Western samples. The present study aimed to determine to what extent perceptions of farming practices and speciesism predict meat consumption among people living in Australia and Hong Kong. Participants were recruited through Facebook advertising and asked to complete a questionnaire that measured speciesism, animal farming perceptions, meat consumption, and meat reduction intentions. Speciesism and perceptions of animal farming practices significantly predicted meat consumption and meat reduction intentions in the Australian sample, but only predicted some of the outcomes in the Hong Kong sample.

Keywords

• animals
• culture
• farming
• meat
• speciesism
• vegetarianism