Honors Theses (Environmental Studies Program)

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"Beef: It's What's For Dinner:" An Analysis of Beef-Driven Powerlessness As It Relates to Food Insecurity, Climate Change, and Advertising in the United States
(University of Oregon, 2021) Grimaldi, Allison; Baumgold, Deborah; Cramer, Jane; Gallagher, Daphne
This thesis explores power and powerlessness with regard to food insecurity, food deserts and food swamps, climate change and methane production, and advertising as they relate to beef and the beef industry. This thesis employs Steven Lukes’ three- dimensional view of power to base its theoretical framework. Using this model in application to my case study, the “Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner” advertising campaign, I argue that the National Cattlemen’s Beef Board has shaped consciousness surrounding consumer understanding of beef and their own interests. Applying concepts of structural powerlessness, attitudinal powerlessness, ideological hegemony, and conscientization, this thesis seeks to expose beef-induced institutional inequities, reveal the efforts of the beef industry to shape consciousness, and suggest avenues for reclamation of power.