Abstract
The current study draws on the collective futures framework to examine how visions of future societies where most people consume plant-based, vegetarian or vegan diets are related to current support for social change towards plant-based diets. Participants were 506 university students in Aotearoa New Zealand invited to imagine a society in 2050 where most individuals consume a plant-based, vegetarian, or vegan diet. A thematic analysis was conducted on responses to an open-ended item asking how these future societies would be different to today. Participants reported a variety of potential positive and negative outcomes for individuals and wider society. Subsequent analyses of attitudes scales investigated the relationships between the collective dimensions of plant-based future societies and support for policies to promote plant-based diets. For a vegetarian future, the strongest predictor of current support for social change was the expectation that widespread vegetarianism would reduce societal dysfunction. For a vegan future, the strongest predictor of support for social change was an expectation of increased warmth in a vegan society. Implications for theory and advocacy are discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 57-69 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Futures |
| Volume | 71 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug-2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Vegetarianism
- Meat consumption
- Collective futures
- Social change
- New Zealand
- NEW-ZEALAND
- CONSUMPTION
- FOOD
- MEAT