Lifestyle as rhetorical transaction: A case study of the vegetarian movement in the United States

Abstract

In rhetorical studies of social movement the focus has consistently been on collective actions working from outside the establishment to achieve change. The individual's role in social movement has, as a result, been excluded. This essay argues that rhetorical critics should consider individual lifestyle as a dimension of social movements through study of the Vegetarian Movement in the United States. This study examines the power of lifestyle as a force in change through examining the values of the Vegetarian Movement, how those values are represented in individual lifestyle, and how that lifestyle influences others.