"Why the right resists veg(etari)anism: Ideological commitment to consuming animal products"
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Public and scholarly discourses have long emphasized the unique symbolic status of meat, expressing strength, cultural traditions, and dominance, and thus values that resonate with right-wing adherents (Adams, 1990; Choma et al., 2024; Dhont & Hodson, 2014; Joy, 2010; Michielsen & van der Horst, 2022). This narrow focus on meat, however, might have contributed to the impression that meat holds a unique ideological role in dietary behavior. Our findings challenge this idea by demonstrating that right-wing adherents (those higher in SDO or RWA) express greater commitment not just to meat consumption but to a broader range of animal products, including dairy, eggs, and fish. Clearly, ideologically motivated commitment to animal product consumption extends beyond meat (Dhont & Hodson, 2014; Stanley, 2022), and is evident among consumers of dairy, egg, and fish, including not only omnivores, but also flexitarians, pescatarians, and vegetarians.
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Vegans and animal advocates are often portrayed as moralistic or condescending, which can elicit psychological resistance to perceived threats to personal choice, particularly among right-wing adherents (Aloni et al., 2024; De Groeve et al., 2022; Gregson et al., 2024). Our findings suggest that, much like meat consumption, dairy, egg, and fish consumption may hold a symbolic meaning reflecting dominance-and tradition-based values and serve as a form of pushback against ideologies that challenge animal product consumption (i.e., veg(etari)anism). Indeed, consistent with Dhont and Hodson's (2014) findings, right-wing ideologies predicted commitment to animal product consumption through perceived veg(etari)anism threat (for both SDO and RWA effects), and human supremacy beliefs (for SDO effects). By demonstrating these dual pathways, our findings align with the dual process model of ideology and prejudice (Duckitt & Sibley, 2010; Judge & Wilson, 2019) yet also reveal that the relevance of ideological dispositions in dietary attitudes and behaviors is more far-reaching than previously understood.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329325003441
#carnism #goVegan #fascism #conservatism #traditionalism #rightWing #dominance #hierarchy #anarchism
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