The Political Psychology of Cancel Culture

Value Framing or Group Identity

Bibliographic Data

ID6339089
AuthorsElle Diether (0009-0002-7132-1621, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA, corresponding author), Suzy Yi (Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA), Lisa P Argyle (0000-0003-3109-2537, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA), Ethan C Busby (0000-0002-8931-6348, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA)
Year2024
Volume77
Issue4
Pages1130-1145
Publication date2024-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Research Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1065-9129 • E-ISSN: 1938-274X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/10659129241261374
OpenAlexW4399764968
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited52

Cancel culture” has become a prominent phrase in US political commentary, with supporters and opponents relying on different value-based arguments to express their views. At the same time, these camps often fall along predictable partisan political lines. What, then, are the real motivations for promoting and opposing behaviors sometimes labeled as “canceling” in contemporary American politics? We explore this question through survey data from Pew in 2020 and two original survey experiments, conducted on the 2021 CES and a 2023 online sample. We examine how Americans define the term “cancel culture,” to what extent cancel culture is linked to both a range of core democratic values, and the role of partisanship in shaping support or opposition to specific behaviors. We observe a significant range of views about cancel culture and document connections to various political values. From our experiments, we find that partisanship is a potent driver of support for and understanding of cancel culture and that value-based framing has a weaker impact as compared to partisanship. Cancel culture provides an important case study of how Americans process conflicting norms and values, including free speech and political accountability, beyond the typical constraints of the formal political system

Framing (construction · Media studies · Political culture · Political psychology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Academic Freedom and Politics · Computer Science · History · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access