Whose agenda is it anyway: an exploration of cancel culture and political affiliation in the United States

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2021

Abstract

Cancel culture is a new catalyst for digital hate seen in various media platforms, in which large groups of people publicly criticize the victim’s actions and withdraw their support from that victim, leading to serious consequences for their livelihood and wellbeing. This study examines how political leaning and cultural values affect a person’s participation in cancel culture. To test this, a 3 × 2 × 2 online experiment was created, with each participant asked to watch a series of Tiktok-style videos about current partisan social justice issues in the United States and read comments from either Democrat or Republican supporters that “canceled” the creator of the video, indicating how they would react to such a video themselves. Results indicated that more liberal individuals were less likely to “cancel” than conservative or non-partisan individuals, but that there are no significant influences from the participants’ political affiliation or self-construal that would affect their engagement in cancel culture. However, the stronger one’s sense of honor, the more likely they are to engage in cancel culture behavior. Implications for our understanding of social media engagement and digital hate are discussed.

Identifier

85151037912 (Scopus)

Publication Title

SN Social Sciences

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00241-3

e-ISSN

26629283

Issue

9

Volume

1

Grant

1928627

Fund Ref

National Science Foundation

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