Institutional change and the limitations of consumer activism

Organizations seeking social change often face a strategic trade-off between targeting individual behavior and targeting institutions. Using the grand challenge of industrial animal agriculture as a case study, this paper critiques the farmed animal movement’s prevailing focus on individual consumer change (e.g., “go vegan”) and argues for an institutional approach aimed at changing governments, firms, social norms, and technologies, particularly via development and commercialization of animal-free food technologies. Drawing on effective altruism, historical comparisons, social psychology, public opinion data, and emerging technological pathways, the paper contends that institutional strategies can be more impactful and tractable, while acknowledging roles for selective, cost-effective individual-focused tactics. Further research on this trade-off in other social contexts is encouraged.

Jacy Reese