Notes: Cancel Culture | Sociology Mains Optional for UPSC 2024 PDF Download

 Page 1


 
Cancel Culture 
Meaning: 
‘Cancel’ here means to cancel out or end (a person’s career) in response to his or 
her offensive behaviour or action. 
The cancellation is akin to a cancelled contract, a severing of the relationship that 
once linked a performer to their fans.  
The word echoes the trend of on-demand subscriptions of content, from which a 
user can opt out just as easily as they opt in. 
Examples:  
If there is a celebrity who makes a misogynistic statement or commits an act of 
sexual crime, there could be calls to boycott the actor’s films and other works, 
banish him or her from all public events and disconnect the person from all 
possible social associations.  
As a result, the person is ‘cancelled’ or blocked culturally, socially, economically 
and politically. 
 
What makes the cancel culture more prominent than the boycott calls? 
It is not only a personal act, it is also a public act.  
As the person Canceling out needs to broadcast her/ his decisions on various 
Social Media platforms to either get a movement going (that is to show solidarity 
with a movement) or start a movement. 
In the age of social media, such calls for naming, shaming and banishing erring 
persons can have far-reaching impacts.  
Even though the origins of cancel culture ‘dates’ back to a long time ago, the term 
has started getting popular in recent years, when a series of Internet spats and 
controversies in which a clutch of celebrities was ‘cancelled out’ and as a result 
lost fame, money, career and, in some cases, gender privileges. 
 
  
Page 2


 
Cancel Culture 
Meaning: 
‘Cancel’ here means to cancel out or end (a person’s career) in response to his or 
her offensive behaviour or action. 
The cancellation is akin to a cancelled contract, a severing of the relationship that 
once linked a performer to their fans.  
The word echoes the trend of on-demand subscriptions of content, from which a 
user can opt out just as easily as they opt in. 
Examples:  
If there is a celebrity who makes a misogynistic statement or commits an act of 
sexual crime, there could be calls to boycott the actor’s films and other works, 
banish him or her from all public events and disconnect the person from all 
possible social associations.  
As a result, the person is ‘cancelled’ or blocked culturally, socially, economically 
and politically. 
 
What makes the cancel culture more prominent than the boycott calls? 
It is not only a personal act, it is also a public act.  
As the person Canceling out needs to broadcast her/ his decisions on various 
Social Media platforms to either get a movement going (that is to show solidarity 
with a movement) or start a movement. 
In the age of social media, such calls for naming, shaming and banishing erring 
persons can have far-reaching impacts.  
Even though the origins of cancel culture ‘dates’ back to a long time ago, the term 
has started getting popular in recent years, when a series of Internet spats and 
controversies in which a clutch of celebrities was ‘cancelled out’ and as a result 
lost fame, money, career and, in some cases, gender privileges. 
 
  
 
Kinds of Cancel Cultures: 
1. Call-out culture: An important or responsible individual is shamed publicly on 
social media for his or her statements (xenophobic, homophobic, racist or sexist) 
and the ensuing outcry helps hold them accountable for their errors. 
2. Shun-Out Culture: It is more serious. Here, an erring celebrity is called out on 
social media and a larger populace boycotts his products and services, eventually 
bringing an end to their careers.  
A lot of times, it is very difficult to differentiate between the variants.  
The immense popularity cancel culture enjoys, especially among teenagers and 
young adults, makes it one of the most influential movements in recent history. 
 
  
Page 3


 
Cancel Culture 
Meaning: 
‘Cancel’ here means to cancel out or end (a person’s career) in response to his or 
her offensive behaviour or action. 
The cancellation is akin to a cancelled contract, a severing of the relationship that 
once linked a performer to their fans.  
The word echoes the trend of on-demand subscriptions of content, from which a 
user can opt out just as easily as they opt in. 
Examples:  
If there is a celebrity who makes a misogynistic statement or commits an act of 
sexual crime, there could be calls to boycott the actor’s films and other works, 
banish him or her from all public events and disconnect the person from all 
possible social associations.  
As a result, the person is ‘cancelled’ or blocked culturally, socially, economically 
and politically. 
 
What makes the cancel culture more prominent than the boycott calls? 
It is not only a personal act, it is also a public act.  
As the person Canceling out needs to broadcast her/ his decisions on various 
Social Media platforms to either get a movement going (that is to show solidarity 
with a movement) or start a movement. 
In the age of social media, such calls for naming, shaming and banishing erring 
persons can have far-reaching impacts.  
Even though the origins of cancel culture ‘dates’ back to a long time ago, the term 
has started getting popular in recent years, when a series of Internet spats and 
controversies in which a clutch of celebrities was ‘cancelled out’ and as a result 
lost fame, money, career and, in some cases, gender privileges. 
 
  
 
Kinds of Cancel Cultures: 
1. Call-out culture: An important or responsible individual is shamed publicly on 
social media for his or her statements (xenophobic, homophobic, racist or sexist) 
and the ensuing outcry helps hold them accountable for their errors. 
2. Shun-Out Culture: It is more serious. Here, an erring celebrity is called out on 
social media and a larger populace boycotts his products and services, eventually 
bringing an end to their careers.  
A lot of times, it is very difficult to differentiate between the variants.  
The immense popularity cancel culture enjoys, especially among teenagers and 
young adults, makes it one of the most influential movements in recent history. 
 
  
 
The functions it serves: 
1. Accountability: This and various other movements (like MeToo) demand 
greater accountability from public figures. 
2. Attention Economy: It works on the idea of attention economy. Celebrities 
thrive on attention and cancel culture aims to deprive someone of your attention, 
thereby depriving them of a livelihood. 
3. Highlighting the Issue: The cancel culture brings to notice some pressing issues 
that otherwise get lost because those without voice (or sub-altern) cannot do 
much against the powerful elites. 
4. Power to Individual: The cancel culture gives power to an otherwise powerless 
individual to do their part. It makes the individual feel connected to an otherwise 
diffused call. 
 
The troubles with the cancel culture: 
1. Creates a stifling atmosphere: 150 prominent writers and academics had put 
out an open letter pointing to the dangers of the cancel culture. The letter says 
the social-media powered cancel culture has created a stifling atmosphere that 
“will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time.” 
2. Hasty and Dispropotionate punishmnents: Cancel-culture calls for swift and 
severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and 
thought. It causes damage, since institutional leaders in a spirit of panicked 
damage control deliver hasty, disproportionate punishments instead of 
considered reforms. 
3. A form of mob justice: Critics of the cancel culture point to the fact that such 
campaigns avoid established channels for justice, such as the courts and police 
procedures, and replaces them measured and matured judicial processes with 
social media trials and punishments. 
4. Creates a culture of instant gratification: Critics say such easy forms of finding 
‘gratification’ or ‘justice’ can be counter-productive, since they educate the young 
generation, who form a big slice of the cancel culture apostles, the wrong way and 
pave way for intolerant and impatient attitudes towards opinions that are 
different from theirs. 
5. Vested Interests: Several examples suggest, given the way social media trials 
have been played by vested interests and forces of capital, cancel culture might 
be getting used by competitors and others to harm particular people.  
Page 4


 
Cancel Culture 
Meaning: 
‘Cancel’ here means to cancel out or end (a person’s career) in response to his or 
her offensive behaviour or action. 
The cancellation is akin to a cancelled contract, a severing of the relationship that 
once linked a performer to their fans.  
The word echoes the trend of on-demand subscriptions of content, from which a 
user can opt out just as easily as they opt in. 
Examples:  
If there is a celebrity who makes a misogynistic statement or commits an act of 
sexual crime, there could be calls to boycott the actor’s films and other works, 
banish him or her from all public events and disconnect the person from all 
possible social associations.  
As a result, the person is ‘cancelled’ or blocked culturally, socially, economically 
and politically. 
 
What makes the cancel culture more prominent than the boycott calls? 
It is not only a personal act, it is also a public act.  
As the person Canceling out needs to broadcast her/ his decisions on various 
Social Media platforms to either get a movement going (that is to show solidarity 
with a movement) or start a movement. 
In the age of social media, such calls for naming, shaming and banishing erring 
persons can have far-reaching impacts.  
Even though the origins of cancel culture ‘dates’ back to a long time ago, the term 
has started getting popular in recent years, when a series of Internet spats and 
controversies in which a clutch of celebrities was ‘cancelled out’ and as a result 
lost fame, money, career and, in some cases, gender privileges. 
 
  
 
Kinds of Cancel Cultures: 
1. Call-out culture: An important or responsible individual is shamed publicly on 
social media for his or her statements (xenophobic, homophobic, racist or sexist) 
and the ensuing outcry helps hold them accountable for their errors. 
2. Shun-Out Culture: It is more serious. Here, an erring celebrity is called out on 
social media and a larger populace boycotts his products and services, eventually 
bringing an end to their careers.  
A lot of times, it is very difficult to differentiate between the variants.  
The immense popularity cancel culture enjoys, especially among teenagers and 
young adults, makes it one of the most influential movements in recent history. 
 
  
 
The functions it serves: 
1. Accountability: This and various other movements (like MeToo) demand 
greater accountability from public figures. 
2. Attention Economy: It works on the idea of attention economy. Celebrities 
thrive on attention and cancel culture aims to deprive someone of your attention, 
thereby depriving them of a livelihood. 
3. Highlighting the Issue: The cancel culture brings to notice some pressing issues 
that otherwise get lost because those without voice (or sub-altern) cannot do 
much against the powerful elites. 
4. Power to Individual: The cancel culture gives power to an otherwise powerless 
individual to do their part. It makes the individual feel connected to an otherwise 
diffused call. 
 
The troubles with the cancel culture: 
1. Creates a stifling atmosphere: 150 prominent writers and academics had put 
out an open letter pointing to the dangers of the cancel culture. The letter says 
the social-media powered cancel culture has created a stifling atmosphere that 
“will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time.” 
2. Hasty and Dispropotionate punishmnents: Cancel-culture calls for swift and 
severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and 
thought. It causes damage, since institutional leaders in a spirit of panicked 
damage control deliver hasty, disproportionate punishments instead of 
considered reforms. 
3. A form of mob justice: Critics of the cancel culture point to the fact that such 
campaigns avoid established channels for justice, such as the courts and police 
procedures, and replaces them measured and matured judicial processes with 
social media trials and punishments. 
4. Creates a culture of instant gratification: Critics say such easy forms of finding 
‘gratification’ or ‘justice’ can be counter-productive, since they educate the young 
generation, who form a big slice of the cancel culture apostles, the wrong way and 
pave way for intolerant and impatient attitudes towards opinions that are 
different from theirs. 
5. Vested Interests: Several examples suggest, given the way social media trials 
have been played by vested interests and forces of capital, cancel culture might 
be getting used by competitors and others to harm particular people.  
 
Way Ahead: 
1. Reforming the visible failures of established modes of justice. 
2. Our social systems and processes are results of years of social and cultural 
evolution, and they are still a work in progress. This fact doesn’t nullify their 
importance and make courts and complaint systems irrelevant. 
Cancel calls avoid such democratic (though with their own flaws) systems.  
Today, it may be a genuine case and cause that becomes fodder for a cancel 
culture.  
Applying caution and reason will help us cancel out wrong cultures.