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"Veganism, a social signifier for whatever the local upper caste is" You lost me here, as most vegans are not wealthy, and in the US have approximately the sam

"Veganism, a social signifier for whatever the local upper caste is" You lost me here, as most vegans are not wealthy, and in the US have approximately the same income as non-vegans on average. (A simple google search will point to many studies which refute your statement)

ipaddr 5y ago
Stats say different. https://www.statista.com/statistics/738868/vegan-vegetarian-consumers-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/738868/vegan-vegetarian-...
cercatrova 5y ago
You are correct but I understood their analogy, I know exactly the kind of person they're talking about.
xhevahir 5y ago
"Asceticism" is probably a better term, I would guess.
Barrin92 5y ago
I lost you there because you missed the word I qualified veganism with. Yes, plenty of people are probably vegan for practical reasons, but within upper social class voluntarily forfeiting certain goods conveys status because it's a sign of purity and frugality and religious cleanliness. In the US in the form of literal Puritanist traditions. Don't smoke, sleep on a hard mattress even if you're a billionaire, it's why Zuckerberg loves talking about living in a crappy house for ages, and why Musk loves talking about how he sold his material possessions and lives in a container. Caste discrimination and trying to snuff out lower caste members by seeing who observes a vegan diet is prevalent in Hindu communities because it happens to be the case that Brahmins observe vegetarianism much more strictly. Also important, class and income aren't the same thing. Your bohemian artist who lives only off ethically sourced food and earns half as much as the meat-eating, smoking blue collar union guy is broke, but not poor.
- xtiansimon 5y ago
  There is a lot of social anxiety for individuals to conform, which is a way of not being seen as different. And yet we have these exemplars of non-conformity. I struggle to see that as a marker for status as you describe it—purity. Instead I’m reminded of something the author Seth Goden says a lot, people like us do things like this. I think there is a difference.

ipaddr 5y ago

Stats say different. https://www.statista.com/statistics/738868/vegan-vegetarian-consumers-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/738868/vegan-vegetarian-...

cercatrova 5y ago

You are correct but I understood their analogy, I know exactly the kind of person they're talking about.

xhevahir 5y ago

"Asceticism" is probably a better term, I would guess.

Barrin92 5y ago

I lost you there because you missed the word I qualified veganism with. Yes, plenty of people are probably vegan for practical reasons, but within upper social class voluntarily forfeiting certain goods conveys status because it's a sign of purity and frugality and religious cleanliness. In the US in the form of literal Puritanist traditions. Don't smoke, sleep on a hard mattress even if you're a billionaire, it's why Zuckerberg loves talking about living in a crappy house for ages, and why Musk loves talking about how he sold his material possessions and lives in a container. Caste discrimination and trying to snuff out lower caste members by seeing who observes a vegan diet is prevalent in Hindu communities because it happens to be the case that Brahmins observe vegetarianism much more strictly. Also important, class and income aren't the same thing. Your bohemian artist who lives only off ethically sourced food and earns half as much as the meat-eating, smoking blue collar union guy is broke, but not poor.

xtiansimon 5y ago
There is a lot of social anxiety for individuals to conform, which is a way of not being seen as different. And yet we have these exemplars of non-conformity. I struggle to see that as a marker for status as you describe it—purity. Instead I’m reminded of something the author Seth Goden says a lot, people like us do things like this. I think there is a difference.