Allison Gray - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Allison Gray
Future of Food: Journal on Food, Agriculture and Society, 2017
Consumer-based food activism (CBFA) is increasingly a symbol of modern politics. Through eating, ... more Consumer-based food activism (CBFA) is increasingly a symbol of modern politics. Through eating, food purchasing, and other consumer behaviours, individuals advocate for social justice causes. However, CBFA is critiqued for being enabled or produced by neoliberal ideologies, which emphasize individuals’ market-based positions as consumers over other (activist) roles, effectively diminishing any influence such personal behaviours have on changing broader structural systems. This project is an exploratory study investigating i) the types of food activism food activists are engaged in; ii) whether they experience CBFA as an effective means to cause social change; and iii) if their roles as consumers and activists are conflicting. In other words, this study seeks to ground the theoretical debates involving the ineffectiveness of CBFA and the dualistic consumer-activist identity. An online survey of self-identified contemporary food activists allowed the collection of data using both clo...
Violence and Victims
This article empirically examines if the relationship between animal abuse and intimate partner v... more This article empirically examines if the relationship between animal abuse and intimate partner violence (often referred to as “the link”) documented in samples of women accessing services from domestic violence shelters extends to a nationally representative sample of the general Canadian population. Nationally representative data from the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey are analyzed using hierarchical binary logistic regression models, with threats and actual abuse of pets as a predictor of physical and sexual intimate partner violence, controlling for several key sociodemographic variables. Actual and threatened abuse of pets by a romantic partner is a significant and sizable predictor of also reporting that partner perpetrated intimate partner violence, particularly physical and severe abuse. As the first study to use nationally representative data to assess the perpetration of animal abuse and IPV in current/recent relationships, this study makes significant contributions t...
Journal of Agrarian Change, 2021
A significant effect of industrial capitalism on the modern Western world is the generation and p... more A significant effect of industrial capitalism on the modern Western world is the generation and perpetuation of a physical and discursive distancing between people and food a result of what Marx termed the metabolic rift. Studies of alienated relationships often homogenize the rift experience. This paper explores how rural Ontario dairy farmers experience what John Bellamy Foster calls 'metabolism' and their perceptions of the alienated states of non-farmers. Results from on-farm semi-structured interviews suggest these farmers are aware of a distancing between nonfarmers and food (milk) that is a different experience than that of farmers. Such perception of milk alienation involving an external groupor what I term third-party alienationis accompanied by farmer-initiated interventions, such as on-farm educational visits and educational programmes, attempting to mend non-farmers rift experience. Third-party alienation exemplifies the ways in which metabolism can be diversely embodiedand possibly mendedwithin current human-food, and human-nature, relationships.
A handbook of food crime
A food crime perspective involves an evaluation of the (lack of) criminal, legal, and regulatory ... more A food crime perspective involves an evaluation of the (lack of) criminal, legal, and regulatory organisation, and the insufficient, ineffective, or lack of enforcement, which surrounds the criminal behaviour and social harms produced within systems of food production, processing, marketing, distribution, selling, consumption, and disposal, victimising (often simultaneously) humans, animals, and the environment. Married to a social harm approach, and grounded in the views of critical criminology, green criminology, and radical victimology, a food crime perspective problematises the practices and contexts of food systems as immoral, harmful, and criminal. This chapter introduces this concept of a food crime perspective in three parts. First, it recognises the study of food must be contextualised in contemporary global food systems. Second, it situates a food crime perspective among other (sub)theories of criminology. Finally, it concludes with an argument why it is important to think criminologically about food.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2020
This article empirically examines the extent to which the co-occurrence of the maltreatment of co... more This article empirically examines the extent to which the co-occurrence of the maltreatment of companion animals and intimate partner violence (IPV) previously documented in samples of women accessing services from domestic violence shelters extends to a nationally representative sample of the general Canadian population, with a specific focus on emotional and financial abuse. Using data from the intimate partner victimization module of the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey ( n = 17,950), the authors find that reporting one’s intimate partner threatened or abused companion animals in the home increased the probability that one had experienced at least one form of emotional abuse or financial abuse by 38.6% ( p ≤ .001) and 7.5% ( p ≤ .001), respectively, net of several key control variables. Moreover, the findings indicate that those who identify as women are significantly more likely to report their partner emotionally or financially abused them and threatened or mistreated their ...
A handbook of food crime
Gray and Hinch explore the phenomenon of food crime. Through discussions of food safety, food fra... more Gray and Hinch explore the phenomenon of food crime. Through discussions of food safety, food fraud, food insecurity, agricultural labour, livestock welfare, genetically modified foods, food sustainability, food waste, food policy, and food democracy, they problematize current food systems and criticize their underlying ideologies.
Green Harms and Crimes, 2015
The relationships between humans and agricultural environments are not exempt from processes of m... more The relationships between humans and agricultural environments are not exempt from processes of modernization. Practices that involve industrialization, corporatization and neoliberalization have drastically reformed the modern practices of the food industry, as well as the regulations which govern them. Recognizing this context, Hazel Croall introduced the concept of food crime some years ago, defining it as the ‘many crimes that are involved in the production, distribution and selling of basic foodstuffs’ (2007: 206). Food crimes include a range of behaviours, ranging from economic and physical harms to both the humans and animals involved in the food industry, to food adulteration and the misrepresentation of food quality. Since then, while few other authors have specifically referred to their work as studies in food crime, there has been a growing literature dealing with connecting issues. As a focal point for criminological research, food crime overlaps with other emerging and established areas of inquiry, including green criminology (Beirne and South, 2007), environmental crime (White, 2008) and corporate crime (Croall, 2007).
This Guidance Memo provides a comparative analysis of the production and consumption of animal fl... more This Guidance Memo provides a comparative analysis of the production and consumption of animal flesh in six important and illustrative countries, as a basis for assessing the potential of rising plant-meat production and consumption. A core argument is that a rapid and radical transition away from animal flesh-centered diets is an urgent environmental priority, starting in the world's wealthiest countries where per capita consumption is highest, followed by middle income countries where per capita consumption is rising fastest. Another related argument is that plant-meats could have a crucial role speeding this dietary transition, although they do not comprise a proverbial silver bullet. The ultimate aim of this memo is to help environmental and animal advocates appreciate the context and dynamism of plant-meat development, which in turn leads to insights about messaging and how to support growth and direct substitution in dietswhat we refer to as re-meatification-moving forwards.
Future of Food: Journal on Food, Agriculture and Society, 2017
Consumer-based food activism (CBFA) is increasingly a symbol of modern politics. Through eating, ... more Consumer-based food activism (CBFA) is increasingly a symbol of modern politics. Through eating, food purchasing, and other consumer behaviours, individuals advocate for social justice causes. However, CBFA is critiqued for being enabled or produced by neoliberal ideologies, which emphasize individuals’ market-based positions as consumers over other (activist) roles, effectively diminishing any influence such personal behaviours have on changing broader structural systems. This project is an exploratory study investigating i) the types of food activism food activists are engaged in; ii) whether they experience CBFA as an effective means to cause social change; and iii) if their roles as consumers and activists are conflicting. In other words, this study seeks to ground the theoretical debates involving the ineffectiveness of CBFA and the dualistic consumer-activist identity. An online survey of self-identified contemporary food activists allowed the collection of data using both clo...
Violence and Victims
This article empirically examines if the relationship between animal abuse and intimate partner v... more This article empirically examines if the relationship between animal abuse and intimate partner violence (often referred to as “the link”) documented in samples of women accessing services from domestic violence shelters extends to a nationally representative sample of the general Canadian population. Nationally representative data from the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey are analyzed using hierarchical binary logistic regression models, with threats and actual abuse of pets as a predictor of physical and sexual intimate partner violence, controlling for several key sociodemographic variables. Actual and threatened abuse of pets by a romantic partner is a significant and sizable predictor of also reporting that partner perpetrated intimate partner violence, particularly physical and severe abuse. As the first study to use nationally representative data to assess the perpetration of animal abuse and IPV in current/recent relationships, this study makes significant contributions t...
Journal of Agrarian Change, 2021
A significant effect of industrial capitalism on the modern Western world is the generation and p... more A significant effect of industrial capitalism on the modern Western world is the generation and perpetuation of a physical and discursive distancing between people and food a result of what Marx termed the metabolic rift. Studies of alienated relationships often homogenize the rift experience. This paper explores how rural Ontario dairy farmers experience what John Bellamy Foster calls 'metabolism' and their perceptions of the alienated states of non-farmers. Results from on-farm semi-structured interviews suggest these farmers are aware of a distancing between nonfarmers and food (milk) that is a different experience than that of farmers. Such perception of milk alienation involving an external groupor what I term third-party alienationis accompanied by farmer-initiated interventions, such as on-farm educational visits and educational programmes, attempting to mend non-farmers rift experience. Third-party alienation exemplifies the ways in which metabolism can be diversely embodiedand possibly mendedwithin current human-food, and human-nature, relationships.
A handbook of food crime
A food crime perspective involves an evaluation of the (lack of) criminal, legal, and regulatory ... more A food crime perspective involves an evaluation of the (lack of) criminal, legal, and regulatory organisation, and the insufficient, ineffective, or lack of enforcement, which surrounds the criminal behaviour and social harms produced within systems of food production, processing, marketing, distribution, selling, consumption, and disposal, victimising (often simultaneously) humans, animals, and the environment. Married to a social harm approach, and grounded in the views of critical criminology, green criminology, and radical victimology, a food crime perspective problematises the practices and contexts of food systems as immoral, harmful, and criminal. This chapter introduces this concept of a food crime perspective in three parts. First, it recognises the study of food must be contextualised in contemporary global food systems. Second, it situates a food crime perspective among other (sub)theories of criminology. Finally, it concludes with an argument why it is important to think criminologically about food.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2020
This article empirically examines the extent to which the co-occurrence of the maltreatment of co... more This article empirically examines the extent to which the co-occurrence of the maltreatment of companion animals and intimate partner violence (IPV) previously documented in samples of women accessing services from domestic violence shelters extends to a nationally representative sample of the general Canadian population, with a specific focus on emotional and financial abuse. Using data from the intimate partner victimization module of the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey ( n = 17,950), the authors find that reporting one’s intimate partner threatened or abused companion animals in the home increased the probability that one had experienced at least one form of emotional abuse or financial abuse by 38.6% ( p ≤ .001) and 7.5% ( p ≤ .001), respectively, net of several key control variables. Moreover, the findings indicate that those who identify as women are significantly more likely to report their partner emotionally or financially abused them and threatened or mistreated their ...
A handbook of food crime
Gray and Hinch explore the phenomenon of food crime. Through discussions of food safety, food fra... more Gray and Hinch explore the phenomenon of food crime. Through discussions of food safety, food fraud, food insecurity, agricultural labour, livestock welfare, genetically modified foods, food sustainability, food waste, food policy, and food democracy, they problematize current food systems and criticize their underlying ideologies.
Green Harms and Crimes, 2015
The relationships between humans and agricultural environments are not exempt from processes of m... more The relationships between humans and agricultural environments are not exempt from processes of modernization. Practices that involve industrialization, corporatization and neoliberalization have drastically reformed the modern practices of the food industry, as well as the regulations which govern them. Recognizing this context, Hazel Croall introduced the concept of food crime some years ago, defining it as the ‘many crimes that are involved in the production, distribution and selling of basic foodstuffs’ (2007: 206). Food crimes include a range of behaviours, ranging from economic and physical harms to both the humans and animals involved in the food industry, to food adulteration and the misrepresentation of food quality. Since then, while few other authors have specifically referred to their work as studies in food crime, there has been a growing literature dealing with connecting issues. As a focal point for criminological research, food crime overlaps with other emerging and established areas of inquiry, including green criminology (Beirne and South, 2007), environmental crime (White, 2008) and corporate crime (Croall, 2007).
This Guidance Memo provides a comparative analysis of the production and consumption of animal fl... more This Guidance Memo provides a comparative analysis of the production and consumption of animal flesh in six important and illustrative countries, as a basis for assessing the potential of rising plant-meat production and consumption. A core argument is that a rapid and radical transition away from animal flesh-centered diets is an urgent environmental priority, starting in the world's wealthiest countries where per capita consumption is highest, followed by middle income countries where per capita consumption is rising fastest. Another related argument is that plant-meats could have a crucial role speeding this dietary transition, although they do not comprise a proverbial silver bullet. The ultimate aim of this memo is to help environmental and animal advocates appreciate the context and dynamism of plant-meat development, which in turn leads to insights about messaging and how to support growth and direct substitution in dietswhat we refer to as re-meatification-moving forwards.