Public receptiveness to policies promoting plant-based diets: framing effects and social psychological and structural influences

ABSTRACT

Governmental and non-governmental organizations, social movements, and academics have called for reductions in meat consumption due to the environmental, animal welfare, and public health consequences of industrial animal agribusiness. An impactful move toward plant-based diets would require changes in public policy. First, we assess if there are different social and structural factors that influence support for policies that promote plant-based diets. We look at four categories of policies (action frames) that will likely reduce meat consumption: environmental, animal welfare, public health, and direct meat reduction. Second, we use a manipulation rhetorical frame to see if support can be altered by providing individuals with information about meat reduction, framing the issue in terms of environmental protection, animal welfare, or public health. Different social and structural factors predict support for different policy groupings, meaning that it matters how policies are enclosed in action frames. However, providing information to individuals about a particular impact (rhetorical frame) has limited influence on policy support.

KEYWORDS:

• Meat reduction
• public health
• environmental policy
• animal welfare
• frame

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Cameron T. Whitley is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University with specializations in Environmental Science and Policy, Gender, Justice and Environmental Change, and Animal Studies. He is a mixed-methods scholar with extensive quantitative and qualitative training. Cameron has an array of publications including a 2013 International Book Award-winning book, several book chapters, and a collection of journal articles (published and forthcoming). For instance, Cameron’s work has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), American Emergency Medicine, Teaching Sociology, Sociological Perspectives and the International Journal of Sociology.

Ryan Gunderson is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Justice Studies in the Department of Sociology and Gerontology at Miami University. His research interests include environmental sociology, social theory, political economy, animal studies, and the sociology of technology. Ryan’s work has been featured in Agriculture and Human Values, Environmental Sociology, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Rural Studies, Organization & Environment, Sociologia Ruralis, and other journals and has received paper awards from the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society and the American Sociological Association.

Meghan Charters is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University and currently researching the implications of media sensationalism as it relates to the human perception of sharks and shark attacks. She is also interested in marine wildlife tourism, specifically in South Africa, and its influence on local communities and marine ecosystems. Her specializations are in Animal Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy. Some of her interests include shark activism, marine wildlife conservation, animal welfare, wildlife law/policy, environmental sociology, and marine pollution.

Notes

1. As one reviewer pointed out, it should be noted that the items are reformist. Thus, it is possible that if radical animal rightists took the survey they may have opposed the items on the grounds that legislative reforms hamper more foundational changes.