Meghan Hanson-Peters
OSP: Literature Review
Sociology
October 22, 2010
Research question: What is the likelihood that people who eat meat might be willing to reduce their meat consumption?
Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown and, 2009. Print. In Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer essentially argues that humans need to move toward not only vegetarianism, but veganism, in order to sustain a healthy planet and foster better treatment of all living things. He provides startling details about factory farms where cattle and chickens are raised, how deep-sea trawlers gather fish (decimating everything in their path), and anecdotes from his family life that explain his slow realization that he does not believe in eating meat any longer. This connects to my research question because it examines several reasons as to why people should eat less meat and his underlying premise of compassion is one that I am curious to explore further; that is, do people truly believe that animals have feelings and if so, are they willing to eat less meat because of it?
Gannon, Sharon. Yoga and Vegetarianism: The Path to Greater Health and Happiness. San Rafael, CA: Mandala Publications. 2008. Print. This book is the most radical of my sources in that the author argues that humans ought to follow a vegan lifestyle because otherwise we are guilty of stealing from and murdering innocent and helpless animals. The author is an ardent follower of ahimsa (nonviolence) and the belief that if we live a good life on earth (karma), we will come back as something better and more enlightened in our next life (reincarnation). It connects to my research because it dramatically accuses humans who eat animal products of being like those who ran Nazi concentration camps during World War Two and I wonder if people are susceptible to such dramatic arguments about their food choices.
Official Food, Inc. Movie Site - Hungry For Change? Web. 25 Oct. 2010. < This video is quite similar to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, but not surprisingly, as Michael Pollan is one of the narrators of the film. The movie includes interviews with cattle farmers, chicken farmers, families who base all their food decisions on the cheapest items available, and people who have worked in slaughterhouses. The thesis of the film is that factory farming is detrimental to our planet and that the four corporations that control the industry are complicit in gross abuses against animals, the land, and the people they employ. It connects to my research question because it seems to me that if people had more knowledge about where their food was really coming from, that they would be more likely to eat less meat, or at least eat meat from which they know about the source.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print. Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma is a hunt for the perfect local meal. Pollan argues that by making conscious decisions about which foods we ought to eat, we will improve our health and the planet’s ecosystems. He is not arguing that we should not eat meat, as Safran Foer does, rather, he pushes for a sort of consciousness of consumers in which we would make deliberate decisions about food based on our knowledge of where our food was grown, slaughtered, picked, etc. It connects to my research question because one of my hypotheses is that even if people are not willing to give up meat, they might be willing to make healthier choices and more local choices once they are familiar with the hidden stories.
The Cove Movie: Welcome. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. < While this film is not about meat consumption, it still connects to my research about why people eat what they do and what drives them to make decisions about food. The Cove explores the illegal hunting of dolphins in a Japanese national wildlife preserve and the public ignorance about both the hunting and what really is on some of their dinner plates. Films like this, while they have an air of propaganda to them, are useful ways to grab people’s attention and raise awareness and questions about the violence used to gather food from animals.