My project aims to examine if there has been a major change in tactics, approaches and motives of the Animal Rights Movement (ARM) in the UK in the last 30 years. Subsequently it will explore potential reasons for this change taking into account motives of the activists, social media, public support, legal context, demographic of the activists. It will also consider the broader context for ARM by examining changes in animal use policies and protections.
The ARM itself is one of the fastest growing movements worldwide. Interest in animal welfare and animal rights has increased in recent years, for example, veganism, a manifestation of animal rights ideology, has quadrupled its members in the last 5 years in the UK alone. The ARM is active in a number of countries, but is especially visible in the Western world. Regardless of that, the number of animals exploited is still growing, which makes this topic very interesting to study
I am a full-time PhD student at Kingston University. I have been vegan and animal rights activist for a number of years. I have participated in different type of animal rights actions, which allowed me to get to know the movement from inside. Observing issues from within the movement and also challenges coming from outside made me interested in the effectiveness of specific tactics and the reasons behind a very fast and comprehensive change of the movement I have witnessed.
I hope that my PhD research will help the animal rights movement, but my overall goal is to bring more attention to the problem of industrialized animal exploitation. Outside of the University I am an environmentalist and an anti-capitalistic supporter of the resource based economy. And most importantly a proud mommy to rescued rats