Vegetarianism. A blossoming field of study

Abstract

Vegetarianism, the practice of abstaining from eating meat, has a recorded history dating back to ancient Greece. Despite this, it is only in recent years that researchers have begun conducting empirical investigations of the practices and beliefs associated with vegetarianism. The present article reviews the extant literature, exploring variants of and motivations for vegetarianism, differences in attitudes, values and worldviews between omnivores and vegetarians, as well as the pronounced gender differences in meat consumption and vegetarianism. Furthermore, the review highlights the extremely limited cultural scope of the present data, and calls for a broader investigation across non-Western cultures.

Introduction

Ethical and spiritual concerns have motivated abstention from meat since ancient times, dating back to Greek philosophers Pythagorus, Plato, Plutarch, and Porphyry (Spencer, 1993). More recent philosophical arguments that have been put forth for vegetarianism include anti-speciesism (Singer, 1976), anti-carnism (Joy, 2010), concern with the killing of animals (Rozin, 2004, Vartanian et al., 2007), animal rights (Regan, 1984), and a feeling of community and identity with the animal world (Clark, 1984). In contrast, scientific arguments for the health benefits of a vegetarian diet are relatively recent, first emerging in the 19th century (Whorton, 1994). For all its history, vegetarianism is notoriously difficult to quantify and study. Scholars and laypeople alike vary widely even in how they define vegetarianism, with some self-identified vegetarians eschewing all animal products, and others occasionally consuming meat, fish, and poultry, while still calling themselves vegetarian. Indeed, confusion around the use of the term ‘vegetarian’ has presented problems for empirical research (Weinsier, 2000).

Recent polls indicate that approximately 8% of Canadians (Ipsos-Reid, 2004) and 3% of US Americans identify as vegetarian (Cunningham, 2009). Additional polls estimate rates of 3% in the UK (UK Food Standards Agency, 2009), 1–2% in New Zealand (Bidwell, 2002), and 3% in Australia, with markedly higher rates of 6% in Ireland, 9% in Germany, 8.5% in Israel, and 40% in India (European Vegetarian Union, 2008). Though these are minorities, they are not small minorities. Thus, vegetarianism stands as an important phenomenon that is well worth empirical investigation. Indeed, numerous scholars have begun the process of formalizing the study of vegetarianism, and their results have far-reaching implications for the ways we think about meat consumption and the reasons that many are beginning to eschew it.

Most vegetarians in the West were not raised as such, but made a decision to convert from a meat-eating diet (Beardsworth & Keil, 1991b) for a range of reasons, including concern about animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and personal health (Beardsworth and Keil, 1991a, Fox and Ward, 2008, Rozin et al., 1997). In India, the practice of vegetarianism has been firmly established for centuries, associated with tradition, power and status, and is a practice into which one is generally born. Furthermore, it appears to be chiefly concerned with the domains of asceticism and purity, such that the aim of vegetarianism is to keep the body free of the pollution associated with meat (Caplan, 2008, Preece, 2008, Spencer, 1993). Across the currently surveyed cultures, women are more likely to be vegetarian than men (Beardsworth and Bryman, 1999, Smart, 1995, Worsley and Skrzypiec, 1998, White and Frank, 1994, Stahler, 2005, Worsley and Skrzypiec, 1998), and have been at the forefront of modern vegetarian movements (e.g. Leneman, 1997, Leneman, 1999; Spencer, 1993). As with much of the psychological database (Arnett, 2008), the literature on vegetarianism is largely drawn from Western cultures, leaving the cross-cultural generalizability of the literature open to question (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010).

Thus, this review attempts to answer several important questions: What exactly is a vegetarian, and what motivates him or her to abstain from meat? Among these motivations, which are the most common, and what implications do they have for health, diet, and attitudes toward meat? How do vegetarians and omnivores differ in the ways in their politics, worldviews, and interactions with others, and how do they view one another? Given the drastically different rates of vegetarianism between men and women, how else do they differ in they was in which they approach vegetarianism and meat eating? Throughout the review, the limited cultural scope of the current literature will also be highlighted.