“It’s Still an Animal that Died for Me.” Responsibility and Meat Consumption
The aim of this paper is to explore the way people engaging in a more or less strict reduction of their consumption of food of animal origin (de)construct their responsibility regarding the food production and distribution system. Starting from a description of the crisis in meat production, it cont...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Europe's Journal of Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://ejop.psychopen.eu/article/view/1854 |
| _version_ | 1797967577760137216 |
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| author | Fabienne Gfeller |
| author_facet | Fabienne Gfeller |
| author_sort | Fabienne Gfeller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The aim of this paper is to explore the way people engaging in a more or less strict reduction of their consumption of food of animal origin (de)construct their responsibility regarding the food production and distribution system. Starting from a description of the crisis in meat production, it contributes to the understanding of the way people who are sensitive to these issues position themselves by focusing on the notion of responsibility. Ciarán Benson’s work on positioning serves as theoretical background. Through the analysis of interviews and a qualitative experiment with people who changed their consumption of food of animal origin recently, several dimensions along which responsibility is constructed are identified. Those are 1) who bears responsibility, 2) towards whom or what, 3) the action that is considered, 4) the knowledge implicated and 5) the power to act in that situation. The main proposition of the paper is to enhance Benson’s approach through the inclusion of a collective “we.” The study took place in Switzerland, where meat consumption is the norm. This context also implies a certain room for maneuver in the choice of products, as well as the presence of debates around the ecological and ethical implications of meat production. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:32:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-68b76802745a4c60a4f9448148835225 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1841-0413 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:32:19Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Europe's Journal of Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-68b76802745a4c60a4f94481488352252023-01-02T20:52:46ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyEurope's Journal of Psychology1841-04132019-12-0115473375310.5964/ejop.v15i4.1854ejop.v15i4.1854“It’s Still an Animal that Died for Me.” Responsibility and Meat ConsumptionFabienne Gfeller0Institute of Psychology and Education, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, SwitzerlandThe aim of this paper is to explore the way people engaging in a more or less strict reduction of their consumption of food of animal origin (de)construct their responsibility regarding the food production and distribution system. Starting from a description of the crisis in meat production, it contributes to the understanding of the way people who are sensitive to these issues position themselves by focusing on the notion of responsibility. Ciarán Benson’s work on positioning serves as theoretical background. Through the analysis of interviews and a qualitative experiment with people who changed their consumption of food of animal origin recently, several dimensions along which responsibility is constructed are identified. Those are 1) who bears responsibility, 2) towards whom or what, 3) the action that is considered, 4) the knowledge implicated and 5) the power to act in that situation. The main proposition of the paper is to enhance Benson’s approach through the inclusion of a collective “we.” The study took place in Switzerland, where meat consumption is the norm. This context also implies a certain room for maneuver in the choice of products, as well as the presence of debates around the ecological and ethical implications of meat production.http://ejop.psychopen.eu/article/view/1854responsibilitypositioningvegetarianismmeat consumption |
| spellingShingle | Fabienne Gfeller “It’s Still an Animal that Died for Me.” Responsibility and Meat Consumption Europe's Journal of Psychology responsibility positioning vegetarianism meat consumption |
| title | “It’s Still an Animal that Died for Me.” Responsibility and Meat Consumption |
| title_full | “It’s Still an Animal that Died for Me.” Responsibility and Meat Consumption |
| title_fullStr | “It’s Still an Animal that Died for Me.” Responsibility and Meat Consumption |
| title_full_unstemmed | “It’s Still an Animal that Died for Me.” Responsibility and Meat Consumption |
| title_short | “It’s Still an Animal that Died for Me.” Responsibility and Meat Consumption |
| title_sort | it s still an animal that died for me responsibility and meat consumption |
| topic | responsibility positioning vegetarianism meat consumption |
| url | http://ejop.psychopen.eu/article/view/1854 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fabiennegfeller itsstillananimalthatdiedformeresponsibilityandmeatconsumption |