Ep 13: How Vegan of You: Cultivating Vegan Identity and Calling Each Other In

Today’s episode is about how identity informs our actions. Have you ever been told online that you aren’t a vegan? We talk about how to keep Vegan identity meaningful while simultaneously moving towards “calling in” in place of “calling out”.

episode notes:

In this episode, we explore how to leverage vegan identity in movement building and what it means to call people in when someone expresses a belief or action that diverges from our shared vegan values. Instead of rushing to revoke someone’s vegan identity over a disagreement about zoos, pet food, or other imperfect choices, what if we made space for complexity and growth?

This doesn’t involve abandoning values or loosening standards. It’s about saying “I know this isn’t who you are, and you can do better, let’s work this out and get you back on track” We talk about why we think this type of calling in might actually be more effective than calling out.

Referenced in this episode:

Loretta J. Ross on calling in:

“Calling out assumes the worst. Calling in involves conversation, compassion, and context.”

Bryan, C. J., Master, A., & Walton, G. M. (2014). “Helping” versus “being a helper”: Invoking the self to increase helping in young children. Child Development, 85(5), 1836–1842. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12244
Link to study (PDF)

Vestergren, S., & Uysal, M. S. (2022). Beyond the choice of what you put in your mouth: A systematic mapping review of veganism and vegan identity. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 848434.
Link to study