The “Reasonable” Vegan: Stigma Management and the Suppression of Activist Identity in Turkey
17th Conference of the European Sociological Association – Strengthening Democracies: Social Action, Solidarity, and Sustainable Futures, Warszawa, Polonya, 25 - 28 Ağustos 2026, ss.1405, (Özet Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: Warszawa
- Basıldığı Ülke: Polonya
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1405
- Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Beyond its core nonhuman animal advocacy, veganism has emerged as a crucial social movement in the context of the deepening climate crisis and the necessity for sustainable futures. However, in societies where entrenched carnist values and the consumption of animals are deeply entwined with national, religious, and gendered identities, veganism is often perceived not as an ethical and sustainable lifestyle but as a threat to social cohesion, a perception that fuels vegaphobic attitudes and behaviours. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 18 Turkish-speaking vegans from seven cities in Turkey and one city in Northern Cyprus, and utilizing Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach and his concept of stigma, this study explores how vegans navigate potential vegaphobia by managing their identities in their daily interactions with non-vegans.
The findings reveal that participants frequently engage in impression management techniques to avoid the "activist" label, which is often stigmatized. To maintain social solidarity in micro-public spheres, such as dinner tables, and to ensure interpersonal ease while avoiding the role of a "killjoy vegan," many participants strategically suppress their ethical motivations. Instead, they frame their lifestyle choices through depoliticized lenses, such as health-related or personal preference. This performance of the "reasonable vegan" allows for smoother interactions but paradoxically hinders the transformative potential of veganism as a collective social action. This paper argues that in traditional and identity-driven cultural contexts, the social cost of maintaining interpersonal comfort and "solidarity" is paid through the suppression of the vegan voice, revealing a fundamental tension between preserving personal and social harmony and advocating for nonhuman animals. Furthermore, it suggests that widespread vegaphobia limits the potential for democratic deliberation and collective solutions to ethical problems and environmental crises.