Prejudice against vegans is common and strong. Some meat eaters lash out at vegans because they feel that vegans, by not eating meat, express moral disapproval of the omnivore’s meat-eating behavior. This uncomfortable feeling of being morally judged, even if just tacitly, motivates meat eaters to take measures to protect the positive view they hold about themselves and their sense of morality. One way of doing so is derogating the source of the perceived threat to one’s positive self-image.
JOACHIM STOBER: A recent survey of hundreds of veg*ns found that over half of them had experienced situations of everyday discrimination because of their veg*nism… Almost 10 per cent reported that at least one of their family members broke off contact after respondents revealed they were veg*n, and a similar percentage reported not being hired for a job because of their veg*n lifestyle…
Consider the reaction from journalist Janet Street-Porter after seeing Tesco’s advert for vegan ‘pork’ sausages. The advert led to an opinion piece in which Street-Porter compared vegans to Stalinists and reported feeling nauseous after viewing the advert. Note that the advert does not show footage of pigs’ living conditions inside factory farms, which in most viewers would cause nauseating reactions… It merely shows a family at dinner time expressing care, love and compassion when a little girl says ‘I don’t want to eat animals anymore’ and the father – in response his daughter’s wish – decides to replace the pork sausages in their favorite dish with Tesco’s plant-based sausages…
Clearly, prejudice against veg*ns is common and strong. Some meat eaters lash out at veg*ns because they feel that veg*ns, by not eating meat, express moral disapproval of the omnivore’s meat-eating behavior. This uncomfortable feeling of being morally judged, even if just tacitly, motivates meat eaters to take measures to protect the positive view they hold about themselves and their sense of morality. One way of doing so is derogating the source of the perceived threat to one’s positive self-image. Such defensive reaction against morally motivated others is known as ‘do-gooder derogation’. The mere presence of a veg*n, salient when having a meal, can provoke such a hostile reaction.
Consistent with this idea are observations that anti-veg*n prejudice is not only stronger against vegans than vegetarians (who still consume some animal products), but also stronger against veg*ns who are veg*n for moral reasons (i.e. ethical concerns about animal welfare) rather than for health reasons, and stronger with increased levels of anticipated moral reproach… However, rather than an attempt to restore or protect the moral identity of meat eaters, many instances of anti-veg*n pushback appear to be ideologically motivated.
Research investigating the role of ideology found marked differences between people on the political right (hereafter right-wing adherents) and people on the political left (hereafter left-wing adherents) with the former eating more meat and expressing greater anti-veg*n prejudice than the latter… While these ideological differences may not be surprising to many readers, the more important and arguably more interesting question is why such differences exist. To address this question, a more detailed look at the two distinct ideological motives and the components underlying right-wing ideologies is needed. SOURCE…
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