Veganism halfway between mainstream and counterculture

Abstract

Veganism is increasingly integrated into mainstream market and culture, although it is characterized by counter-cultural moral values, political goals and consumption practices, coherently with its animal rights ideals. How can this paradoxical integration be explained and through what processes does it take place? Through the results of a theoretical analysis, an online pilot survey and observations collected both online and in supermarkets, it is argued that market creates a commercial form of veganism, neutralizing its counter-cultural connotations. Two processes of integration/marginalization of veganism are specifically suggested, one that operates at the intersection between market and social relations («facade integration»), the other that operates at the intersection between market, consumers and products («reinterpretation»). It is concluded that, through these processes, market reinterprets veganism in the light of mainstream consumer values and needs, at the same time marginalizing its counter-cultural animal rights ideals and indirectly hindering their promotion.