What is taking them so long? A critical discourse analysis examining the hold-up in implementing policy initiatives to reduce meat consumption in Sweden

Sammanfattning: In later years, discourse on meat consumption has gained increased focus within the political sphere. In Sweden, despite the increase in attention, it is yet to result in any implementation of significant initiatives targeted at reducing meat consumption. In this paper, we have used critical discourse analysis to analyse the discourse on meat consumption in Sweden, searching for aspects and issues that might hinder implementing political initiatives regarding reducing meat consumption. We have searched through 23 different sources, including debates, transcription and literature, to motivate the political actions and attitudes as well as society's perception and social influence. Using newspapers and media outlets to show the opinion of the public. The source was analysed through Bacchi’s What's the Problem Represented to be? An approach where the sources were analysed through her six questions. The analysis resulted in key findings divided into four topics. These topics were Responsibility, Intervening and Control, Information and Misinformation and Social and Behavioural aspects, which all gave insight into answering the research question of what aspects and issues might hinder political initiatives targeted at reducing meat consumption within Sweden.