Myths of Censorship: The Realities and Misperceptions of Cancel Culture

Organised by

• Department of Political and Social Sciences

Few principles are as central to American democracy as freedom of speech. Yet, some argue cancel culture —i.e., censoring offensive speech—undermines this crucial tenet. We offer a theory of why people cancel others and test it using a conjoint experiment with a representative sample of Americans. We find that when Americans engage in cancelling, they do so because of what was said, regardless of the speaker’s identity. Cancelation reflects an attempt to redress speech considered harmful, not punishment borne of partisan or racial animosity. But we also show that the public is significantly misinformed about cancellation: people overestimate the extent to which cancelling occurs and they misconstrue why it happens. Even though partisan bias does not cause cancelling, (mis-)beliefs about cancelling could exacerbate partisan animosity. These findings help to unravel the dynamics of contemporary American free speech.

The speaker will be presenting in person. Participants can follow the talk from Seminar room 2, although space is restricted to a maximum of 8 people on a first-come, first-served basis. The talk will also be live streamed and participants will receive the zoom link once registered.