Evaluation vegetarians and vegans have less prejudices

Meat eaters are more prone to prejudice than vegetarians and vegans
Vegetarians and vegans are less prone to prejudice than meat-eaters, according to a recent study by scientists from the University of Mainz and the University of Wuppertal. The researchers Susanne Singer and Kathy Taylor of the Institute of Medical Biometry, Epidemiology and Computer Science (IMBEI) of the University Medical Center Mainz and Petra Veser of the University of Wuppertal have investigated possible connections between the diet and attitude towards other people. The study results were published in the journal "British Food Journal".
The researchers conclude in their current research that "people who eat meat and other animal products are more prone to prejudice and more in favor of authoritarian structures and hierarchies." Vegetarians and vegans, on the other hand, are less prejudiced and authoritarian Question structures more. "The diet was independent of age, with the attitude towards other people together," said Singer.

Vegetarians and vegans have less prejudice than meat eaters. (Image: Rido / fotolia.com)

Older people generally tend to be more prejudiced
More and more people in Germany are consciously opting for a vegetarian or vegan diet. In the current study "Diet, authoritarianism, social domination orientation, and predisposition to prejudice", the researchers therefore examined this trend from a societal perspective. They found that the so-called omnivores (omnivores) have a higher propensity for prejudice compared to vegetarians and vegans. This difference was much more pronounced in men than in women.

Researchers have also found that older people tend to be more prejudiced than others. However, there was a difference between vegetarians, vegans and omnivores in all age groups.

Meat-eaters are more in favor of authoritarian structures
A similar difference between vegetarians, vegans and meat eaters was also found in the advocacy of authoritarian structures. For example, people who eat vegan or vegetarian foods do not seem to cling so much to old-fashioned foods and more often advocate equivalent relationships to hierarchical ones, the researchers report. "The older people in our study rated hierarchies and authoritarian structures in society more positively than the younger ones, but here, too, we saw a difference in each age group, depending on how people were nourished," says study leader Prof. Singer. Overall, the data from 1,400 people between the ages of 12 and 86 years were evaluated in the study.

About one-third of the respondents fed omnivor (35 percent), vegetarian (31 percent) or vegan (34 percent), although the high number of vegetarians and vegans does not correspond to the real distribution in the population. According to their own statements, the researchers tried to attract especially many vegetarians and vegans in order to obtain statistically reliable statements from these groups as well. (Fp)