| In this dissertation, I investigate how the legitimacy of meat production and consumption has been gained, maintained, disrupted, and negotiated by the practices of producers, mass media, and consumers. I do this by integrating several methodological tools: historical analysis; focus groups; in-home interviews; and a content analysis of meat-related articles in The New York Times (1981-2013).;Part I of this dissertation explores the longstanding tension that meat production and consumption have generated with people's desire to live happily, sustainably, and ethically. While the emergence of meat's legitimacy can be traced back to its biophysical and political-economic uses, as discussed in Chapter 1, the meaning and value attached to these uses reflect the myriad cultural contexts in which meat is socially constructed in people's everyday lives. In Chapter 2, I show how this legitimacy is maintained by corporate producers' concealment of negative information about their products, the mass media's emphasis on cuisine and agribusiness as opposed to the social justice implications of meat production, and consumers' everyday orientation to meat as a mundane commodity rather than an object of controversy. Every now and again, a meat-related crisis will nonetheless capture the public's attention. As revealed in Chapter 3, this is most likely to occur when meat suddenly appears to consumers as hazardous, disgusting, or unethical.;Part II of the dissertation examines how producers and consumers actively renegotiate the legitimacy of meat production and consumption in the aftermath of crisis. In Chapter 4, I show that conventional producers use their political-economic influence to receive certification and approval for their business practices from academics and non-profits. Small producers, on the other hand, leverage their cultural authenticity and interpersonal bonds to market niche meat products. In Chapter 5, I explain how consumers' responses to crisis are mediated by social class.;Ultimately, all of these negotiation strategies face their own sets of contradictions and constraints. My findings suggest that an environmental justice approach toward uprooting these problems may require a deeper questioning of meat culture itself, especially since opposition to the scale of production through which this culture is given expression may prove insufficient. |
