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There is, as Andrew Rowan dubs it, a "constant paradox" in the way we treat, relate to, and consume animals in our everyday lives (Arluke and Sanders 4). This paper examines this paradox in relation to the rise of vegetarianism as a new taste and consumer culture in the West. The first part of the paper, drawing upon Bourdieu, argues that vegetarian "taste" is fundamentally a social practice linked to class and gender. It then offers a preliminary theoretical sketch of the sociological drivers and consequences of vegetarianism in latemodernity, drawing on social theory. Having established the theoretical framework, the second part of the paper turns to an empirical analysis of the moral motivations and experiences of a selection of Australian bloggers. The key argument is that the bloggers narrate vegetarianism as a taste practice that entangles self-care with a larger assemblage of non-human responsibility that works to re-enchant a demoralised consumer modernity.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Vegetarianism; ethics; morality; sustainability; climate change; human-animal relations
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Sociology
Research Field:	Social change
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in human society
UTAS Author:	Hookway, N (Dr Nicholas Hookway)
ID Code:	89985
Year Published:	2014
Deposited By:	School of Social Sciences
Deposited On:	2014-03-21
Last Modified:	2018-03-29
Downloads:	452 View Download Statistics