Relations (Nov 2017)
Veganism: Lifestyle or Political Movement? Looking for Relations Beyond Antispeciesism
Abstract
In recent years, various issues related to non-human animals emerged as elements of interest among public opinion, also involving debates in various academic fields. If philosophy, law, economics and cultural studies can already boast relevant works also at an Italian level, it is not the same for political sociology and social movement studies. In order to analyse the variegated archipelago of national animal advocacy, we stratified the phenomenon into three movement areas (animal care, protectionism, antispeciesism) with the goal to test some hypothetical differences and verify eventual convergences. Our data come from two main sources: an online survey and 20 semi-structured interviews conducted with leaders and/or “relevant” activists of groups and associations. In this article we specifically focus on those questions related to dietary consumption, veganism as a philosophy/lifestyle and the use of non-human animals for human interest. An increasing number of perspectives are focusing more and more on individual lifestyles and members’/activists’ modes of consumption, shifting the action from the streets to the shops. This change of paradigm often blurs more radical and political approaches characterized by structural anti-capitalist frames and actions and that involve(d) forms of popular collective protests aimed at proposing alternatives ideas of future and societies.
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