There are many different ways that people can express their support for the animals that exist in factory farms. This study draws on insights from the social identity approach, and adopts novel methods (latent profile analysis [LPA]) to examine the qualitatively different subgroups or profiles that comprise broader community positions on this issue. North American participants (N = 578) completed measures of the frequency with which they engaged in 18 different animal welfare actions. LPA identified 3 meaningful profiles: ambivalent omnivores (n = 410; people who occasionally limited their consumption of meat/animal products), a lifestyle activist group (n = 134; limited their consumption of animal/meat products and engaged in political actions), and a vegetarian radical group (n = 34; strictly limited their consumption of animal/meat products and engaged in both political and radical actions). Membership of the 3 populations was predicted by different balances of social identities (supporter of animal welfare, vegan/vegetarian, solidarity with animals), and markers of politicization and/or radicalization. Results reveal the utility of adopting person-centred methods to study political engagement and extremism generally, and highlight heterogeneity in the ways that people respond to the harms perpetrated against animals.
AbramsD.GrantP. R. (2012). Testing the social identity relative deprivation (SIRD) model of social change: The political rise of Scottish nationalism. British Journal of Social Psychology, 51, 674–689. doi:10.1111/j.2044–8309.2011.02032.x
2.
AllenM. W.WilsonM.NgS. H.DunneM. (2000). Values and beliefs of vegetarians and omnivores. The Journal of Social Psychology, 140, 405–422. doi:1080/00224540009600481
3.
AmiotC. E.BastianB. (2015). Toward a psychology of human–animal relations. Psychological Bulletin, 141, 6–47. doi:10.1037/a0038147
4.
AmiotC. E.BastianB. (2017). Solidarity with animals: Assessing a relevant dimension of social identification with animals. PloS ONE, 12. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0168184
BaileyC. (2007). We are what we eat: Feminist vegetarianism and the reproduction of racial identity. Hypatia, 22, 39–59. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2007.tb00981.x
7.
BastianB.LoughnanS. (2017). Resolving the meat-paradox: A motivational account of morally troublesome behavior and its maintenance. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21, 278–299. doi:10.1177/1088868316647562
8.
BauerD. J.CurranP. J. (2004). The integration of continuous and discrete latent variable models: Potential problems and promising opportunities. Psychological Methods, 9, 3–29. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.9.1.3
9.
BaysuG.PhaletK. (2017). Beyond Muslim identity: Opinion-based groups in the Gezi Park protest. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 20, 350–366. doi:10.1177/1368430216682353
10.
BerndsenM.van der PligtJ. (2005). Risks of meat: The relative impact of cognitive, affective and moral concerns. Appetite, 44, 195–205. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2004.10.003
11.
BliucA. M.McGartyC.ReynoldsK.MunteleD. (2007). Opinion-based group membership as a predictor of commitment to political action. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 19–32. doi:10.1002/ejsp.334
12.
CarsonJ. V.LaFreeG.DuganL. (2012). Terrorist and non-terrorist criminal attacks by radical environmental and animal rights groups in the United States, 1970–2007. Terrorism and Political Violence, 24, 295–319. doi:10.1080/09546553.2011.639416
13.
CherryE. (2006). Veganism as a cultural movement: A relational approach. Social Movement Studies, 5, 155–170. doi:10.1080/14742830600807543
14.
CliffordS.JewellR. M.WaggonerP. D. (2015). Are samples drawn from Mechanical Turk valid for research on political ideology?Research & Politics, 2. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/2053168015622072
15.
CollinsL. M.LanzaS. T. (2009). Latent class and latent transition analysis: With applications in the social, behavioral, and health sciences. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
16.
De BackerC. J. S.HuddersL. (2014). From meatless Mondays to meatless Sundays: Motivations for meat reduction among vegetarians and semi-vegetarians who mildly or significantly reduce their meat intake. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 53, 639–657. doi:10.1080/03670244.2014.896797
17.
De BoerJ.SchöslerH.AikingH. (2017). Towards a reduced meat diet: Mindset and motivation of young vegetarians, low, medium and high meat-eaters. Appetite, 113, 387–397. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.03.007
18.
DecetyJ.PapeR.WorkmanC. I. (2018). A multilevel social neuroscience perspective on radicalization and terrorism.Social Neuroscience, 13, 511–529. doi:10.1080/17470919.2017.1400462
19.
DhontK.HodsonG.CostelloK.MacInnisC. C. (2014). Social dominance orientation connects prejudicial human–human and human–animal relations.Personality and Individual Differences, 61, 105–108. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2013.12.020
20.
DhontK.HodsonG.LeiteA. C. (2016). Common ideological roots of speciesism and generalized ethnic prejudice: The social dominance human–animal relations model (SD-HARM). European Journal of Personality, 30, 507–522. doi:10.1002/per.2069
FoxN.WardK. J. (2008). You are what you eat? Vegetarianism, health and identity. Social Science & Medicine, 66, 2585–2595. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.02.011
24.
GalvinS. L.HerzogH. A.Jr. (1992). Ethical ideology, animal rights activism, and attitudes toward the treatment of animals. Ethics & Behavior, 2, 141–149. doi:10.1207/s15327019eb0203_1
25.
GreenebaumJ. (2012). Veganism, identity and the quest for authenticity. Food, Culture & Society, 15, 129–144. doi:10.2752/175174412X13190510222101
26.
HaenflerR.JohnsonB.JonesE. (2012). Lifestyle movements: Exploring the intersection of lifestyle and social movements. Social Movement Studies, 11, 1–20. doi:10.1080/14742837.2012.640535
27.
HerzogH. A.GoldenL. L. (2009). Moral emotions and social activism: The case of animal rights. Journal of Social Issues, 65, 485–498. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01610.x
28.
HippJ. R.BauerD. J. (2006). Local solutions in the estimation of growth mixture models. Psychological Methods, 11, 36–53. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.11.1.36
29.
HornseyM. J.BlackwoodL.LouisW.FieldingK.MavorK.MortonT.. . . WhiteK. M. (2006). Why do people engage in collective action? Revisiting the role of perceived effectiveness. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36, 1701–1722. doi:10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00077.x
30.
HornseyM. J.JettenJ. (2003). Not being what you claim to be: Impostors as sources of group threat. European Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 639–657. doi:10.1002/ejsp.176
31.
JabsJ.DevineC. M.SobalJ. (1998a). Maintaining vegetarian diets: Personal factors, social networks and environmental resources. Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 59, 183–189.
32.
JabsJ.DevineC. M.SobalJ. (1998b). Model of the process of adopting vegetarian diets: Health vegetarians and ethical vegetarians. Journal of Nutrition Education, 30, 196–202. doi:10.1016/s0022-3182(98)70319-x
33.
JabsJ.SobalJ.DevineC. M. (2000). Managing vegetarianism: Identities, norms and interactions. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 39, 375–394. doi:10.1080/03670244.2000.9991625
34.
KlandermansB. (1997). Principles of movement participation. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
35.
LeachC. W.van ZomerenM.ZebelS.VliekM. L.PennekampS. F.DoosjeB.. . . SpearsR. (2008). Group-level self-definition and self-investment: A hierarchical (multicomponent) model of in-group identification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 144–165. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.144
36.
LeuprechtC.McCauleyC.SkillicornD. B. (in press). Terrorists, radicals, and activists: Distinguishing between countering violent extremism and countering extremist violence, and why it matters. In von HlatkyS. (Ed.), Countering violent extremism and terrorism: Assessing Canada’s domestic and international strategies. Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
37.
LoughnanS.BastianB.HaslamN. (2014). The psychology of eating animals. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 104–108. doi:10.1177/0963721414525781
38.
LouisW. R. (2009). Collective action—and then what?Journal of Social Issues, 65, 727–748. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01623.x
39.
LouisW. R.AmiotC. E.ThomasE. F.BlackwoodL. (2016). The “activist identity” and activism across domains: A multiple identities analysis. Journal of Social Issues, 72, 242–263. doi:10.1111/josi.12165
40.
SandøeP. (2016). Animal ethics profiling of vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters. Anthrozoös, 29, 89–106. doi:10.1080/08927936.2015.1083192
41.
McCauleyC.MoskalenkoS. (2016). Friction: How conflict radicalizes them and us. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
42.
McCauleyC.MoskalenkoS. (2017). Understanding political radicalization: The two-pyramids model. American Psychologist, 72, 205–216. doi:10.1037/amp0000062
43.
McGartyC.BliucA. M.ThomasE. F.BongiornoR. (2009). Collective action as the material expression of opinion-based group membership. Journal of Social Issues, 65, 839–857. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2009.01627.x
44.
McGartyC.ThomasE. F.LouisW. R. (2012). Are they terrorist sympathizers or do they just disagree with the War on Terror? A comment on testing theories of radicalization in polls of U.S. Muslims. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 12, 316–319. doi:10.1111/j.1530-2415.2012.01293.x
45.
MoghaddamF. M. (2005). The staircase to terrorism: A psychological exploration. American Psychologist, 60, 161–169. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.60.2.161
46.
MonaghanR. (1999). Terrorism in the name of animal rights. Terrorism and Political Violence, 11, 159–169. doi:10.1080/09546559908427538
47.
MonaghanR. (2013). Not quite terrorism: Animal rights extremism in the United Kingdom. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 36, 933–951. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2013.832117
48.
MoskalenkoS.McCauleyC. (2009). Measuring political mobilization: The distinction between activism and radicalism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 21, 239–260. doi:10.1080/09546550902765508
49.
MunroL. (2005). Strategies, action repertoires and DIY activism in the animal rights movement. Social Movement Studies, 4, 75–94. doi:10.1080/14742830500051994
50.
MuthénB. (2006). The potential of growth mixture modelling. Infant and Child Development, 15, 623–625. doi:10.1002/icd.482
51.
MuthénB.MuthénL. K. (2000). Integrating person-centered and variable-centered analyses: Growth mixture modeling with latent trajectory classes. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 24, 882–891. doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2000.tb02070.x
52.
MuthénL. K.MuthénB. O. (2012). Mplus statistical modeling software: Release 7.0 [Computer software]. Los Angeles, CA: Author.
53.
OsborneD.SibleyC. G. (2017). Identifying “types” of ideologies and intergroup biases: Advancing a person-centred approach to social psychology. European Review of Social Psychology, 28, 288–332. doi:10.1080/10463283.2017.1379265
54.
PlousS. (1991). An attitude survey of animal rights activists. Psychological Science, 2, 194–196. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1991.tb00131.x
55.
PodsakoffP. M.OrganD. W. (1986). Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 12, 531–544. doi:10.1177/014920638601200408
56.
ReicherS. D. (1996). “The Battle of Westminster”: Developing the social identity model of crowd behaviour in order to explain the initiation and development of collective conflict. European Journal of Social Psychology, 26, 115–134. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0992(199601)26:1<115::AID-EJSP740>3.0.CO;2-Z
RosenfeldD. L.BurrowA. L. (2017). The unified model of vegetarian identity: A conceptual framework for understanding plant-based food choices. Appetite, 112, 78–95. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.01.017
59.
RozinP.MarkwithM.StoessC. (1997). Moralization and becoming a vegetarian: The transformation of preferences into values and the recruitment of disgust. Psychological Science, 8, 67–73. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00685.x
60.
RubyM. B. (2012). Vegetarianism. A blossoming field of study. Appetite, 58, 141–150. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.09.019
61.
SaabR.SpearsR.TauschN.SasseJ. (2016). Predicting aggressive collective action based on the efficacy of peaceful and aggressive actions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 529–543. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2193
62.
SimonB.GrabowO. (2010). The politicization of migrants: Further evidence that politicized collective identity is a dual identity. Political Psychology, 31, 717–738. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2010.00782.x
63.
SimonB.KlandermansB. (2001). Politicized collective identity: A social psychological analysis. American Psychologist, 56, 319–331. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.56.4.319
64.
SingerP. (1995). Animal liberation (2nd ed.). London, UK: Random House.
65.
SmithL. G.ThomasE. F.McGartyC. (2015). “We must be the change we want to see in the world”: Integrating norms and identities through social interaction. Political Psychology, 36, 543–557. doi:10.1111/pops.12180
66.
SorensonJ. (2009). Constructing terrorists: Propaganda about animal rights. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 2, 237–256. doi:10.1080/17539150903010715
67.
StuartA.ThomasE. F.DonaghueN.RussellA. (2013). “We may be pirates, but we are not protesters”: Identity in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Political Psychology, 34, 753–777. doi:10.1111/pops.12016
68.
SubašićE.ReynoldsK. J.TurnerJ. C. (2008). The political solidarity model of social change: Dynamics of self-categorization in intergroup power relations. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12, 330–352. doi:10.1177/1088868308323223
69.
SweetmanJ.LeachC. W.SpearsR.PrattoF.SaabR. (2013). “I have a dream”: A typology of social change goals. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 1, 293–320. doi:10.5964/jspp.v1i1.85
70.
TajfelH. (1975). The exit of social mobility and the voice of social change: Notes on the social psychology of intergroup relations. Social Science Information, 14, 101–118. doi:10.1177/053901847501400204
71.
TajfelH. (1982). Social psychology of intergroup relations. Annual Review of Psychology, 33, 1–39. doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.33.020182.000245
72.
TajfelH.TurnerJ. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In AustinW. G.WorchelS. (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
73.
TauschN.BeckerJ. C.SpearsR.ChristO.SaabR.SinghP.SiddiquiR. N. (2011). Explaining radical group behavior: Developing emotion and efficacy routes to normative and non-normative collective action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 129–148. doi:10.1037/a0022728
ThomasE. F.CaryN.SmithL. G. E.SpearsR.McGartyC. (2018). Exploring the group-based antecedents of solidarity and compassion fade: How the death of a child turned apathy into action but distress took it away. New Media & Society, 20, 3778–3798. doi:10.1177/1461444818760819
76.
ThomasE. F.LouisW. R. (2014). When will collective action be effective? Violent and non-violent protests differentially influence perceptions of legitimacy and efficacy among sympathizers. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 263–276. doi:10.1177/0146167213510525
77.
ThomasE. F.McGartyC. (2018). Giving versus acting: Using latent profile analysis to distinguish between benevolent and activist support for global poverty reduction. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57, 189–209. doi:10.1111/bjso.12228
78.
ThomasE. F.McGartyC.LouisW. R. (2014). Social interaction and psychological pathways to political engagement and extremism. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 15–22. doi:10.1002/ejsp.1988
79.
ThomasE. F.McGartyC.MavorK. (2016). Group interaction as the crucible of social identity formation: A glimpse at the foundations of social identities for collective action. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 19, 137–151. doi:10.1177/1368430215612217
80.
ThomasE. F.SmithL. G. E.McGartyC.PostmesT. (2010). Nice and nasty: The formation of prosocial and hostile social movements. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale, 23, 17–55.
81.
ThomasE. F.SmithL. G. E.McGartyC.ReeseG.KendeA.BliucA.-M.. . . SpearsR. (2018). When and how social movements mobilize action within and across nations to promote solidarity with refugees. European Journal of Social Psychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2380
82.
TurnerJ. C.HoggM. A.OakesP. J.ReicherS. D.WetherellM. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.
83.
Turner-ZwinkelsF.van ZomerenM.PostmesT. (2015). Politicization during the 2012 US presidential elections: Bridging the personal and the political through an identity content approach. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 433–445. doi:10.1177/0146167215569494
84.
Van StekelenburgJ.KlandermansB. (2011). Radicalization. In AzziA. E.ChryssochoouX.KlandermansB.SimonB. (Eds.), Identity and participation in a culturally diverse society: A multidisciplinary perspective (pp. 181–194). New York, NY: Wiley-Blackwell.
85.
Van ZomerenM.PostmesT.SpearsR. (2008). Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 504–535. doi:10.1037/00332909.134.4.504
86.
WedelM.KamakuraW. A. (2012). Market segmentation: Conceptual and methodological foundations. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
