ABSTRACT
As the history of Western countries shows, one of the characteristics of modernization or industrialization is an increasing vegetarian tendency; that is, a tendency towards vegetarian diets and compassion for animals. This may, for instance, be seen in the well-documented history of the United Kingdom, where modern vegetarianism was born, in the last 500 years or so, particularly in the growing changes in attitudes towards nature, plants and animals, and in anticruelty laws, vegetarian societies or societies for the protection of animals. It may also be seen in the biographies of an increasing number of individuals who, to a lesser or greater degree, have supported vegetarian diets or have been against killing or harming animals, such as John Ray, Alexander Pope, John Wesley, Jeremy Bentham, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Henry Stephens Salt, and Annie Besant.1
