Date of Award

2023

Degree Name

Master of Arts (Research)

Schools and Centres

Arts & Sciences

First Supervisor

Professor Cate Thill

Second Supervisor

Dr Rosemary Hancock

Abstract

Research into vegetarian and vegan (vegist) diets has previously found animal rights to be the primary/most significant motivator. Such studies, however, were largely conducted prior to the mass mobilisation of young people - instigated by the global School Strike for Climate in 2018 - in environmental activism. This project, which included 110 surveys and 9 interviews with vegist students (18-25) at an Australian University in 2019 and 2020, examines a) the motivations for vegism in a young cohort, and b) explores the experience, tactics, and goals of young vegists through a social movement theory lens. The project found that a higher proportion of this cohort than in previous research are motivated to practice vegism by environmental reasons. Secondly, the environmentally-motivated participants in this project viewed their dietary practice as a political tactic – one form of action within a wider activist repertoire – and not as their primary method for achieving environmental social change. In this study, participants employ both lifestyle ‘action’ and contentious action, adapting their tactics across social contexts based on the perceived effectiveness of each approach. This thesis thus argues for a distinction between what I call lifestyle ‘action’, and participation in a lifestyle ‘movement’, contributing to social movement theory debate on the role and significance of alternative diets within environmental and other protest groups.

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