IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v30y2025i1p96-115.html

Rethinking Veganism in the Digital Age. Innovating Methodology and Typology to Explore a Decade of Facebook Discourses

Author

Listed:
  • Nicola Righetti

    (University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy)

  • Niccolò Bertuzzi

    (University of Parma, Italy)

Abstract

In this article, we examine the expressions of veganism on Facebook, a main social media platform worldwide, through a combination of classic qualitative social science and computational methods. Building on a foundational typology proposed by Jessica Greenebaum, we adopt Weber’s ‘ideal types’ to analyze a broad range of online vegan expressions, using Max Reinert’s algorithm to identify distinct ‘lexical worlds’ of vegan discourses in 200,000 vegan-related messages published over a decade (2010–2020). Our analysis leads to a nuanced typology based on individual versus collective focus and inward versus outward orientation, uncovering four primary functions of social media in veganism: self-documentation and resource sharing, advocacy and education, identity and community formation, and support and mobilization. The research also advances methodological approaches in social media analysis by integrating traditional qualitative insights with computational Big Data techniques.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola Righetti & Niccolò Bertuzzi, 2025. "Rethinking Veganism in the Digital Age. Innovating Methodology and Typology to Explore a Decade of Facebook Discourses," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 30(1), pages 96-115, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:30:y:2025:i:1:p:96-115
    DOI: 10.1177/13607804241248350
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13607804241248350
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/13607804241248350?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kelly Cooper & Ozgur Dedehayir & Carla Riverola & Stephen Harrington & Elizabeth Alpert, 2022. "Exploring Consumer Perceptions of the Value Proposition Embedded in Vegan Food Products Using Text Analytics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Nicklas Neuman, 2020. "Social Conventions and Boundary Work in an Online Q&A: The Example of Vegetarianism and Veganism," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(4), pages 609-625, December.
    3. Alessio D'angelo & Louise Ryan & Paola Tubaro, 2016. "Visualization in Mixed-Methods Research on Social Networks," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 21(2), pages 148-151, May.
    4. Laura K. Nelson, 2020. "Computational Grounded Theory: A Methodological Framework," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 49(1), pages 3-42, February.
    5. Natalie-Anne Hall, 2022. "Understanding Brexit on Facebook: Developing Close-up, Qualitative Methodologies for Social Media Research," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(3), pages 707-723, September.
    6. José van Dijck & Thomas Poell, 2013. "Understanding Social Media Logic," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(1), pages 2-14.
    7. José van Dijck & Thomas Poell, 2013. "Understanding Social Media Logic," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(1), pages 2-14.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emiliana Armano & Marco Briziarelli & Elisabetta Risi, 2024. "L?emergere dell?istruzione mediata da piattaforme digitali. Critica Delle retoriche dominanti a partire da una ricerca sul campo," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2024(2), pages 143-162.
    2. Dolata, Ulrich, 2017. "Social movements and the Internet: The sociotechnical constitution of collective action," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2017-02, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    3. Jacob Groshek & Sarah Krongard, 2016. "Netflix and Engage? Implications for Streaming Television on Political Participation during the 2016 US Presidential Campaign," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Daniele Battista, 2023. "Winning against All Odds: Elly Schlein’s Successful Election Campaign and Instagram Communication Strategies," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-13, May.
    5. Mieke Verloo, 2018. "Gender Knowledge, and Opposition to the Feminist Project: Extreme-Right Populist Parties in the Netherlands," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(3), pages 20-30.
    6. Win, CHI, 2023. "Impact of Sensationalized Media Coverage and Perception on Current Events in Myanmar," International Journal of Sociology, IPRJB, vol. 7(2), pages 1-12.
    7. Chuanlin Ning, 2025. "Propelling Country Image Research Forward: Evolutionary Characteristics and Prospects of Global Country Image Studies," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(4), pages 21582440251, November.
    8. repec:plo:pone00:0183551 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Chuanlin Ning, 2025. "You Have not Disappeared: Digital Mourning Spaces After a Social Media Celebrity’s Self-Obituary," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 13.
    10. Kaarel Lott & Maria Murumaa-Mengel & Raili Marling, 2025. "Mainstreaming the manosphere: discourses of contemporary masculinity among Estonian manfluencers," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    11. repec:plo:pone00:0203958 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Mariek Vanden Abeele & Ralf De Wolf & Rich Ling, 2018. "Mobile Media and Social Space: How Anytime, Anyplace Connectivity Structures Everyday Life," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(2), pages 5-14.
    13. Luis-Millán González & José Devís-Devís & Maite Pellicer-Chenoll & Miquel Pans & Alberto Pardo-Ibañez & Xavier García-Massó & Fernanda Peset & Fernanda Garzón-Farinós & Víctor Pérez-Samaniego, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Sport in Twitter: A Quantitative and Qualitative Content Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-20, April.
    14. Brian Heseung Kim & Julie J. Park & Pearl Lo & Dominique Baker & Nancy Wong & Stephanie Breen & Huong Truong & Jia Zheng & Kelly Rosinger & OiYan A. Poon, 2025. "Letters of Recommendation by High School Counselors in Selective College Admissions: Differences by Race and Socioeconomic Status in Letter Length and Topics Discussed," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 66(5), pages 1-35, August.
    15. Brian S. Bantugan, 2026. "Qualitative Mindset behind Grounded Theory: Implications to Qualitative Research Training," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 10(3), pages 5884-5895, March.
    16. repec:osf:osfxxx:jvpbw_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Cammarota, Antonella & D’Arco, Mario & Marino, Vittoria & Resciniti, Riccardo, 2026. "The brand activism path: Mapping the activism intensity and consumer responses," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    18. Estela Marine-Roig & Eva Martin-Fuentes & Natalia Daries-Ramon, 2017. "User-Generated Social Media Events in Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-23, December.
    19. Martin Echeverría, 2023. "Experiencing Political Advertising Through Social Media Logic: A Qualitative Inquiry," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 127-136.
    20. Abramson, Corey & Li, Zhuofan & Prendergast, Tara & Dohan, Daniel, 2025. "Qualitative Research in an Era of AI: A Pragmatic Approach to Data Analysis, Workflow, and Computation," SocArXiv 7bsgy_v1, Center for Open Science.
    21. Celina Navarro & Gemma Gómez-Bernal, 2022. "The Use of Social Media by Spanish Feminist Organizations: Collectivity From Individualism," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 93-103.
    22. Heran Guan & Rossilah Jamil, 2026. "How recruitment signals become memes: competitive intelligence dynamics in ten Chinese AI firms," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, December.
    23. Alex Luscombe & Kevin Dick & Kevin Walby, 2022. "Algorithmic thinking in the public interest: navigating technical, legal, and ethical hurdles to web scraping in the social sciences," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1023-1044, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:30:y:2025:i:1:p:96-115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.