Why are there so few vegan manual workers ?

[Big Good Wolf]

This is purely an anecdotal observation and question, as I don't know what 90%* of the vegans I have ever met, either on line or in real life, do for a living.

Anyway, the only vegan manual workers I can think of at the moment are...
One bus mechanic
One builder
One plumber
One roller shutter door installer and repairer
One supermarket shelf stacker

I'm sure there would be more with a wider sample, it just seems like a very low proportion to me.


*This is a figurative 90%. I don't really know what the number of people I don't know about is.

[xrodolfox]

I have noticed that trend too. Very few vegans I know are "blue collar".

The vegans that I know tend to be:
-nurse (kinda blue collar)
-teachers (white collar)
-lawyer
-doctor
-graphic designer (several)
-professors
-small business owner

I don't know any plumber, carpenters (I do know an ex-vegan carpenter), auto-workers, or anything like that. Perhaps that says more about my circles than the proportion of vegan working class people... but when i do meet vegans, it's rarely anything but the most privileged jobs.

[beforewisdom]

I think it is probably a matter of the people who are vegans and the people who become activists staying with their own circles. Feminists in the United States have been criticized for a similar thing by foreign women, foreign feminists, non-middle class, non-rich, non-white women & feminists in the US.

I don't think there is any intentional exclusion with either vegans or feminists. Most people, including those who complain about unintentional exclusion, *tend* not to know about and/or being a little myopic to people outside of their bailiwick.

[Talyn]

Interesting. I've never really thought about that.

Most of the vegans I know work in either IT or are a teacher of some kind. So yeah I'm inclined to also wonder why?

Has anyone ever tried to compile a list of what jobs people do on VF? I'd be curious to know.

[vCLaW]

I think quite a few people become vegan when they go away to college/university, when they have a chance to meet other vegans, and are able to cook their own meals etc. That's my experience anyway.

In terms of online forums / Facebook etc, I think there's a fairly obvious bias towards office workers or students, who spend much of their time sitting at a computer.

[bob_summers]

The first thing that popped into my head when I read vegan plumber was this: NSFW

[JP]

actually first you need to take the age groups

then compare the occupation percentages to the percentages of the whole population

and then you could see how it all compares.

but i agree, lower level in manual jobs, but not as low as some critics make it sound, i know a lot of manual worker vegans.

Its just that manual workers dont make a big portion of the age group where veganism is the most common...

Also a lot of people go vegan when in university, that is bound to skew the picture.

[lobsteriffic]

Yeah, I was also going to say that the correlation between education level and vegetarianism. It's a whole host of factors, really. Education level is also correlated with political views, environmentalism, etc.

[beforewisdom]

but not as low as some critics make it sound, i know a lot of manual worker vegans.

Were they born into blue collar families?

Here in the U.S. a number of middle class college students, especially the type to become vegan, through choices they have made and some economic shifts become manual laborers despite having gone to college.

[thestoatyone]

Why don't we make this a Vegan Manual Workers Pride thread? Sorta stand-up if you eat plants and build/fix stuff...

<---- Learning and Development Consultant

[ColleenE]

It's the same reason why most "blue collar" folks don't do triathlons or play polo. The working class doesn't have the same resources to afford what is perceived of and to some extent admittedly is, an expensive diet. Veggies, fruits, pea proteins, raw nuts--much pricier than pizza and chicken. Class factors also come to play with education (those who go to college are more likely to become vegan) and hence exposure to circles who would espouse a vegan philosophy.

An interesting sociological take on why we eat the way we do/ participate in the cultural forms we do is P. Bourdieu's "Distinctions" which makes the argument that our class status essentially predisposes our predilections.

[beforewisdom]

It's the same reason why most "blue collar" folks don't do triathlons or play polo. The working class doesn't have the same resources to afford what is perceived of and to some extent admittedly is, an expensive diet. Veggies, fruits, pea proteins, raw nuts--much pricier than pizza and chicken.

Any diet can be expensive or cheap depending on how much people decide to make on their own. At equal levels of doing it yourself vegan diets beat omni diets. Legumes, tubers, some grains and seasonal produce are among the cheapest foods around.

It isn't resources that prevent the working class from being vegan, it is exposure to the idea.

In my area our local vegetarian society paid for free vegan nutrition classes taught by a nutritionist. The classes included shopping trips and the cost was only a token amount, to be waived if asked.

Every year they did it, they always had enthusiastic graduates.

When I would leaflet in the city I would get those graduates coming up to me telling me how much they loved eating that way.

I would also get more tired janitors and truck drivers taking leaflets from me than fashionable women carrying yoga gear.

It is exposure. Some things are just in with some crowds not others. Its cultural, not financial, IMHO

[Konstantin]

Is there something in the concept of ambition? Those who are motivated to change their diet and lifestyle are also motivated to train in their career and do something niche or with social impact?

I hate how that sounds because it could be seem as dismissive of manual trades.

[beforewisdom]

Is there something in the concept of ambition? Those who are motivated to change their diet and lifestyle are also motivated to train in their career and do something niche or with social impact?

I hate how that sounds because it could be seem as dismissive of manual trades.

I've met many vegans and I've met many unmotivated vegans. I've also known people from blue collar backgrounds with enough ambition to work their asses off and have more material things than I do.

I think it is just a matter of what the culture is in the different classes

[ColleenE]

It is exposure. Some things are just in with some crowds not others. Its cultural, not financial, IMHO

Class and culture and not mutually exclusive. But I would still contend that eating vegan is not cheap. Yes, you can have cheap rice and beans and potatoes, but eating a diet with leafy greens will cost you.

As far as the question about ambition--I definitely think this is a minor issue. Every president of the United States to my knowledge has been an omnivore. How many prime ministers are vegan? I've never heard of on. Most CEOs are omnivores. Vegans account for less than 1% of the US population and probably roughly that in most European nations. If only 1% of the population is motivated, we're in big trouble.