Political Veganism: An Empirical Analysis of Vegans’ Motives, Aims, and Political Engagement

DOI10.1177/0032321720930179
Published date01 November 2021
Date01 November 2021
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321720930179
Political Studies
2021, Vol. 69(4) 814 –833
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0032321720930179
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Political Veganism: An
Empirical Analysis of Vegans’
Motives, Aims, and Political
Engagement
Deborah Kalte1,2
Abstract
Scholars increasingly argue that the vegan lifestyle reflects a broader pattern of how political
behavior is becoming more individualized and private. Veganism is particularly viewed as an
unconventional form of political participation, as it is conducted to address ethical concerns and
to change market practices. However, this argumentation lacks detailed empirical data. By means
of an original standardized survey of a purposive sample of 648 vegans in Switzerland, this study
shows that (1) a vast majority of vegans is politically motivated and aims to induce change in society
at large; (2) they are highly engaged in a broad variety of political activities; and (3) politically
motivated vegans live vegan more strictly and are more politically active than vegans motivated by
personal concerns. This study contributes to the understanding of political participation in current
times, and the insights gained may prove useful to vegan movement groups or the food industry.
Keywords
veganism, political consumerism, lifestyle political consumerism, political participation,
Switzerland
Accepted: 28 April 2020
Introduction
Veganism has become an increasingly widespread phenomenon in Western societies over
the last few years. While a strict plant-based diet has long been perceived to be rather
extreme and self-depriving, it has now become part of a trendy, conscious, and healthy
lifestyle (Cole and Morgan, 2011; Jallinoja et al., 2018; Wright, 2018). The attractiveness
of vegan products goes beyond the minority of people who avoid animal products for
ethical reasons and appeals to a growing number of conscious consumers seeking health-
ier and cleaner food (Crawford, 2015). This rise in popularity is backed by a vast number
1Department of Political Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
2Department for General Democracy, Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau, Switzerland
Corresponding author:
Deborah Kalte, University of Zurich, Affolternstrasse 56, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland.
Email: deborah.kalte@zda.uzh.ch
930179PSX0010.1177/0032321720930179Political StudiesKalte
research-article2020
Article
Kalte 815
of social media platforms promoting a new image of veganism, the growing supply of
vegan products, and most importantly, the various vegan advocates who encourage peo-
ple to go vegan (Jallinoja et al., 2018).
On the one hand, a growing number of food bloggers, influencers, and celebrities
openly celebrate their vegan diet and reach millions of followers and potential imitators via
their social media profiles. Hip vegan restaurants and shops have mushroomed in major
cities and urban areas, further helping veganism to become en vogue and mainstream. On
the other hand, animal rights organizations and vegan activists use targeted actions to raise
consciousness on the consequences of eating animal-derived products (Hancox, 2018;
Jallinoja et al., 2018; Nguyen, 2017; Wright, 2018). In addition to the growing awareness
of the unethical treatment of animals, people are increasingly considering the consequences
of the consumption of animal-derived products for the environment and society at large.
Besides reducing animal suffering, vegan proponents claim that a plant-based diet may
both curb climate change and alleviate world hunger, arguments which increasingly
receive scientific support (Poore and Nemecek, 2018; Springmann et al., 2016).
Hence, while some may adopt a vegan lifestyle because of health concerns or because
it is popular, others might do so because they are aware of the positive consequences their
consumer behavior has for animals, the environment, and society and thus decide to take
responsibility on a daily basis. In the latter case, veganism illustrates how an individual
and everyday behavior such as consumption may represent a strategy to express ethical,
political, social, or ecological considerations and intentions to change objectionable insti-
tutional, market, or social practices (Bennett, 1998; Stolle and Micheletti, 2013). Put
differently, veganism might be used as a daily commitment to address collective prob-
lems, or in other words, as an unconventional form of political participation (Micheletti
and Stolle, 2012; Stolle and Micheletti, 2013).
So far, however, scientists have only presumed veganism as a possible form of politi-
cal participation, but have not ascertained it systematically or empirically. It is already
well established that veganism represents a social movement that promotes individual,
everyday practices as efforts toward social change (Cherry, 2006: 156; Haenfler et al.,
2012: 5; Véron, 2016). In addition, a number of studies have observed that it is mainly the
concern for animal welfare that leads people to live vegan (e.g. Janssen et al., 2016;
Kerschke-Risch, 2015; Wrenn, 2017). In contrast, there is no detailed research on the
specific goals that people want to achieve with a vegan lifestyle. Furthermore, scholars
assume that vegans engage well beyond consumer choices to voice their concerns, and
engage in a variety of political activities (Micheletti and Stolle, 2012). However, with the
exception of Wrenn (2017) who studied the political attitude and behavior of vegans, no
research has been found to examine the political engagement of vegans in an exhaustive
and detailed manner.
This article aims to address this research gap by empirically analyzing the vegan life-
style as a potential form of unconventional political participation. The main goal is to
assess the political dimension of veganism by answering the following research ques-
tions: What motivates people to live vegan? What do they wish to achieve by living
vegan? And in what other forms of political engagement are they active? In order to
answer these questions, a specially designed survey on the vegan lifestyle was conducted
in Switzerland in 2018. By means of this survey, a total of 648 vegans offered novel and
comprehensive insights on the vegan lifestyle and provide first-time data about their
engagement in other political activities. The findings from this survey are intended to
make an important contribution to the study of veganism as a form of political behavior.

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