The modern-day trends in social media and digital activism encompass a variety of controversial social topics. As such, the necessity to reprimand an individual who performed unrighteous conduct became especially prominent in the digital environment over the past years, enabling the rise of the cancel culture phenomenon (Mueller, 2021). Currently, multiple individuals participate in this act of digital activism, which often results in large numbers of online media users denouncing famous influencers (Ng, 2020). However, several media reporters and journalists have expressed their negative expectations of the cancel culture tendency (Romano, 2019). Thus, the current cancel culture debate in the media is divided between the supporters and the opponents of the phenomenon, with each of the sides presenting substantial arguments towards the credibility of their position.
Of exceptional interest is the reasoning of reporters and journalists who demonstrate negative attitudes towards cancel culture. Although cancel culture is a form of digital activism that aims to highlight the unethical behavior of famous people and influential personas, such negative effects as decontextualization, misrepresentation, and excessive psychological pressure have been reported (Bouvier, 2020). Thus, cancel culture can be viewed as an obstructive tendency that results in misinformation and unethical targeting of specific individuals.
Considering this evidence, an issue concerning the predictors of negative perceptions towards cancel culture should be addressed. While the overall goal of the described trend adheres to the concepts of social justice and attempts to establish responsibility for immoral behavior, it is believed to be a threatening event by social media (Saint-Louis, 2021). Therefore, the proposed research question for my study can be formulated as follows: what factors contribute to the creation of negative attitudes towards cancel culture exhibited by social media reporters? I intend to use the framework of digital activism to evaluate the characteristics of cancer culture that present it as an undesirable form of social justice from the view of mainstream social media reporters.
The investigation of this issue requires finding and evaluating a considerable amount of empirical data, clarifying how journalists working for famous social media organizations perceive the cancel culture phenomenon. I will use the content analysis method to examine the well-recognized articles that negatively frame cancel culture, uncovering recurrent themes and explaining how the described practice becomes unfavorable. Content analysis is especially beneficial when evaluating textual material, as it allows to analyze the themes that occur consistently throughout multiple texts (Drisko and Maschi, 2016). By connecting the emerging patterns, I will be able to quantify the presence of particular words linked to the characteristics of digital activism, ascertaining the primary factors that contribute to the reporters’ negative perceptions.
In order to consider the issues of ethics and diversity, I plan to incorporate articles written by representatives of various minorities, ensuring that a diverse range of attitudes is included in the research. After that, I will only use officially published material that is available through public search, preserving the ethicality of the study. At the end of the project, I will present a written essay highlighting the results of the content analysis.
The inclusion of scholarly research is especially necessary for this project, as it allows to highlight potential connections by approaching the issue from a scientific perspective. As such, the concept of digital activism and its characteristics are imperative for the study, and the needed information is excellently presented by George and Leidner (2019). The authors thoroughly analyze the attributes of digital activism, outlining the negative consequences that might emerge from the uncontrolled utilization of such practices (George and Leidner, 2019). Therefore, by using this article, I will also be able to draw on the hypothesis made by the scholars, approving or negating them after the data analysis. Furthermore, the study by Bouvier (2020) is highly relevant for the investigation, as it discusses various concerns related to the cancel culture, describing the processes that depict this trend as obstructing social justice. Finally, the work of Norris (2021) is vital for the project, presenting evidence for the perception of cancel culture as the expression of the dominant group’s views rather than the success of social justice.
My preliminary ideas revolve around the negative effects of cancel culture, which perceptually outweigh the positive consequences. As such, I believe that the prominent methods used by cancel culture activists to achieve their goals are considered low-effort and low-resources activities, lacking necessary credibility and argumentative support. This hypothesis is based on the evidence regarding the primary aspects of digital activism presented by George and Leidner (2019). Furthermore, it is possible that the assumed power, reputational, operational, financial, emotional, and cognitive effects usually following digital activism are believed to have only a small impact on the perpetrator.
There are several limitations to this project that require discussion. First of all, only negative perceptions of journalists are considered in the study, suggesting a rather exclusive approach to the phenomenon. After that, reporters often have to adhere to the policies of the social media organizations, and the impact of the corporations’ rules on the journalists’ articles might be indiscernible. From this perspective, it is unclear whether the content represents the views of the company or the journalist, meaning that the project might lack credibility.
Reference List
Bouvier, G. (2020) ‘Racist call-outs and cancel culture on Twitter: the limitations of the platform’s ability to define issues of social justice, Discourse, Context & Media, 38. Web.
Drisko, J.W. and Maschi, T. (2016) Content analysis. Oxford University Press.
George, J.J. and Leidner, D.E. (2019) ‘From clicktivism to hacktivism: understanding digital activism’, Information and Organization, 29(3). Web.
Mueller, T.S. (2021) ‘Blame, then shame? Psychological predictors in cancel culture behavior’, The Social Science Journal [Preprint]. Web.
Ng, E. (2020) ‘No grand pronouncements here…: reflections on cancel culture and digital media participation’, Television & New Media, 21(6), pp. 621–627. Web.
Norris, P. (2021) ‘Cancel culture: myth or reality?’, Political Studies [Preprint]. Web.
Romano, A. (2019) ‘Why we can’t stop fighting about cancel culture, Vox. Web.
Saint-Louis, H. (2021) ‘Understanding cancel culture: normative and unequal sanctioning’, First Monday, 26(7). Web.