Browsing by Author "Alfaro, Juan"

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    Becoming vegan: A study of career and habitus
    (SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2021) Giacoman, Claudia; Alfaro, Juan; Aguilera Bornand, Isabel Margarita; Torres, Rodrigo
    This article aims to understand the stages of adopting veganism in young people. To achieve this objective, we analyze 30 biographical interviews with young vegans in Santiago, Chile. The participant's stories allow us to identify that the transition to this new lifestyle implies acquiring a secondary habitus, that is, a gradual shift in understanding and acting in the world, which entails progressive identity changes until becoming vegan. This transition consists of five steps: personal questioning, vegetarianism attempt, vegetarianism, veganism, and activism. This path constitutes a career process but presents nuances according to the young people's social class of origin and individual characteristics. The main contribution of this article is to delve into the career stages that lead to the consolidation of a vegan identity, based on two classical sociological concepts (career and habitus).
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    Construcción de privilegios y actitudes hacia la riqueza: percepciones y creencias de madres y padres de colegios de élite en Chile
    (2022) Alfaro, Juan; Atria Curi, Jorge Andres; Ortuzar Lyon, Santiago Andres
    Este artículo aborda la construcción y reproducción de privilegios en la mirada de hombres y mujeres de élite en Santiago de Chile. Basándose en 24 entrevistas semiestructuradas realizadas a madres y padres de cinco prestigiosos colegios, se presentan tres dimensiones del privilegio que configuran distintas actitudes hacia la riqueza: remisión al pasado familiar, aprovechamiento de oportunidades, y actitud de naturalidad. Así entendido, el privilegio incide en la selección de un determinado establecimiento educativo, aunque este adquiere distintas comprensiones en cada uno. El artículo releva la importancia de la construcción de privilegios como clave para expandir la investigación sobre las élites y la reproducción de desigualdades.
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    Memes and Veganism: Representations of Vegan Identity and Its Alterity
    (2023) Joustra Bartholomaus, Camila Antonia; Alfaro, Juan; Giacoman Hernández, Claudia
    This research aims to identify the underlying discourses in the representation of vegan identity and its alterity in memes. We made a structural analysis of 276 memes published in two Chilean vegan accounts on Instagram. The results reveal that the discursive structures of the memes studied consist of two evaluation axis (one practical and one ethical-political) that generate a typology of representations about vegan identity (authentic vegan) and its alterity (impostor nonvegan, authentic nonvegan, impostor vegan). We also found two interactions that deepen the definition of the authentic vegan identity. In these interactions, conflict and ridicule toward the nonvegan prevail. We conclude that online contexts and the use of memes as the analysis unit allow an emerging conflictive side of veganism that had been hidden in previous works. This article invites others to delve into the study of vegan identities and existing negotiation strategies in both online and offline spaces.
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    Pandemic patriotism: Official speeches in the face of the global COVID-19 crisis
    (2022) Atria, Jorge; Alfaro, Juan; Tapia, Magdalena; Frei, Raimundo
    Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities have had to announce health, economic, financial, and social measures. The way in which these actors communicate is crucial and points to the collective meanings that are transmitted when dealing with the pandemic. The discourses used are designed with different frameworks and narratives to have broad appeal, so as to convince the public about the government's performance in managing the crisis and to obtain respect and obedience. Based on a qualitative analysis of 238 official speeches from five continents delivered between March and May 2020, this article contributes to the analysis of the pandemic with regard to two axes that underlie the speeches in other crises of this magnitude: appeals for solidarity and references to a war context. The results show that in this pandemic, the discourses have been deployed through these axes, reinforcing collective memories and national identities as sources to activate patriotic feelings and sustain implemented measures.
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    Vegan on a low budget: enacting identity through cuisine in an internet community
    (ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2023) Giacoman, Claudia; Alfaro, Juan; Joustra, Camila; Aguilera, Isabel M.
    The adoption of veganism implies a change in food practices. This study investigates how low-budget people lead a vegan lifestyle. Using Bourdieu's habitus and food sociology concepts, we analyze 884 posts on a Chilean Facebook group, in which members share low-budget vegan recipes. Our results show that low-income people enact veganism mainly by constructing cuisine based on their social class and avoiding animal consumption products. The definition of this cuisine continues to be a battleground in terms of practices considered legitimately vegan, regardless of poverty. This article contributes sociologically by deepening our understanding of everyday practices that help enact veganism in non-hegemonic positions, how individuals forge their social identity, and the role of cuisine in adopting a vegan lifestyle.