“E as proteínas?”: a construção da identidade de sujeitos vegetarianos em Santa Maria – RS através das práticas de consumo

Abstract

Every year the number of vegetarians in Brazil grows more and more, but there are few works that propose to study this group in the field of communication and consumer studies. In view of this, we have little information on how vegetarian subjects constitute themselves as a group and what the impacts of consumption on them are. That said, the general objective of this work is to explore how subjects constitute their vegetarian identities through their consumer relations and cultural practices. Consumption relations are analyzed through two theoretical models proposed by Garcia Canclini (1992): consumption as a mode of symbolic distinction between groups, and as an integrative/communicative mode. The relationship between consumption and identity is explored from Hall (2000), Barbosa; Campbell (2006), Douglas; Isherwood (2006). In addition, the relationship between food and cultural practices is discussed through Joy (2014), who coined the term "carnism", demonstrating that what we eat and/or consider edible has more to do with our culture than with biological factors. In view of the objective of the study, we conducted a qualitative research with vegetarian subjects in Santa Maria/RS, through semi-open and semi-structured interviews. As part of the results obtained, it is considered that while hegemony is maintained by carnival society, vegetarian subjects perceive themselves as counterhegemonic insofar as they contest the cultural practices established by carnism. Therefore, the support between the group, whether online or offline, is important for the consolidation and maintenance of their identities.