butupa via Wikimedia Commons
butupa via Wikimedia Commons

Online cancel culture is fueled by strongly-held political beliefs

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Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

People whose identities are strongly defined by political beliefs are more likely to engage in online cancel culture, new research finds. From a survey of around 460 people, researchers found that the desire to show off one's moral beliefs (virtue signaling) and the urge to correct what they see as others' incorrect views (social vigilantism) also explain how intensely people engage in cancel culture. This study focused on the effect of cancel culture on brands rather than individuals.

Journal/conference: Acta Psychologica

Link to research (DOI): 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104140

Organisation/s: AUT University

Funder: This research was funded by an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (grant #: 430-2022-01064).

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Expert Reaction

These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.

Dr Jessica Vredenburg, Senior Lecturer, Marketing, AUT University; and author of this research

A “cancellation” happens when the public calls out a brand with power or influence for a perceived moral transgression in an attempt to damage their reputation, reduce their power, and encourage the public withdraw their support of the brand.

Consider for example Anheuser-Busch who experienced significant backlash following paid promotions between Bud Light and trans-actress Dylan Mulvaney on social media. The criticism was broad, including public figures such as Donald Trump, Caitlyn Jenner, and Kid Rock speaking out. The company lost nearly $5 billion in market cap in less than two weeks. In effect, they were “cancelled.”

Although debate remains on whether the punishment fits the “crime” in such situations, losses experienced by cancelled individuals and brands can be devastating. And our hyper connected culture (facilitated by social media, hashtags, algorithms, etc.) have enabled this phenomenon.

In this new study we sought to understand who is most likely to “cancel”. We found that political identity centrality–the extent to which one's political identity (e.g., as a "liberal" or a "conservative") is central to their self-concept–increases the likelihood that they will engage in cancelling behaviours. Thus, individuals whose identity is tightly tied to their political beliefs are more likely to cancel, regardless of what those beliefs actually are.

This understanding may assist brands in recovering from being “cancelled” (e.g. individuals with weaker political identities might have greater potential for recovery as their reactions should be less severe).

We further hope that this work will contribute to social marketing and policies that support improved public discourse and reduced political polarization. As political identity centrality is not ideology-specific some implications of this work could include for instance focusing on common ground between political beliefs which has been found to reduce polarization and in turn the damaging effects of cancel culture.

Last updated: 13 Feb 2024 10:18am
Declared conflicts of interest:
Dr Vredenburg is an author of this research

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