A dominant misconception is that veganism simply means changing individual consumer habits and that this will lead to social change. However, this confusion of veganism with consumerism as a strategy for change is a fairly recent development that has its roots in the late 1970s with rise of neoliberal ideology; coming from outside of veganism.
neoliberalism
Veganism is a Collective Process
Veganism needs to be viewed as not simply individual change, but as a collective political process. Speciesism and other forms of ideological controls prevent us from seeing veganism as a collective process.
Class Bias and Nonhuman Animal Advocacy
Of course, this confusing of consumerism with activism leads to the lopsided view that nonhuman animal advocacy is a middle-class thing. After all, if you don't have a dollar in your wallet, if you don't have equal access to the marketplace, then you are not a "real activist." As a poor person who often doesn't have even a dollar in their wallet, I think this is insulting. Seeing consumers as the "real activists" marginalizes those of us who are poor and working-class activists. It privileges the marketplace and consumerism over social justice and structural change.
Veganism: It's No Accident
As a social movement that seeks to radically transform the structure of society, veganism requires forethought, reflection, and critical thinking. When "accidental" or "accidentally" is added to "vegan" it misrepresents veganism as a mindless act; it disregards the moral, social, and political substance of veganism.
More On Neoliberal Appropriation
A key element of neoliberalism that I didn't mention in my previous post is "personal responsibility." The focus on personal responsibility by neoliberals leads to over-personalization and ignores the structure of oppression. Neoliberals (re)define veganism and other social movements "as more a matter of personal responsibility – a private, primarily economic matter," to quote Lisa Duggan. We see this in Bruce Friedrich's essay on "Effective Advocacy."
The Neoliberal Appropriation of Veganism
In Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, Bob Torres claims, "Veganism can be deeply political and meaningful, but as an historical and social practice, it has failed to live up to the political possibilities it offers." The problem with this statement is that Torres takes veganism out of the historical and social context. As such, he fails to realize that veganism hasn't failed, but, rather, it has been appropriated and misrepresented.
Veganism: Theory and Practice
"Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement" means that a revolution is achieved with neither verbalism nor activism, but rather with praxis, that is with reflection and action directed at the structure to be transformed. – Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed