On Tuesday May 10 at 12:30, Matt Levendusky will give a talk on "Speech Norms in Contemporary America: The Realities and Misperceptions of ‘Cancel Culture.’"

No registration needed.

Matt is a professor of political science, as well as the Stephen and Mary Baran Chair in the Institutions of Democracy at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as the Penny and Robert A. Fox Director of the Fels Institute of Government.

Matt does fascinating research on polarization, partisanship, and media effects, and we are fortunate to have him visit our department throughout May. He is sitting in office 1331-329, and you should feel free to contact him if you have research you would like to discuss.

Find more information about Matt’s work.

Below is more information about the talk on Tuesday:

Speech Norms in Contemporary America: The Realities and Misperceptions of ‘Cancel Culture’

Authors
Nicholas C. Dias, University of Pennsylvania
James N. Druckman, Northwestern University
Matthew S. Levendusky, University of Pennsylvania

Abstract:
Few principles are as central to American democracy as freedom of speech. While we know much about government regulation of this central right, few previous works have studied the social regulation of speech in the contemporary era. This includes “cancel culture,” where individuals censor/silence speech with which they disagree. We offer an initial examination of cancel culture by exploring when, why, and how people cancel, as well as their perceptions of others’ cancellation behaviors. Results from a conjoint experiment show that cancellation is rare, and primarily occurs because of offensive speech, not partisan bias. In contrast, however, Americans think others cancel frequently, especially those from the other party. Further, they think that such cancellation stems from nefarious motives, underscoring that these misperceptions can fuel partisan animosity and discord. Our findings provide an agenda for the study of a new dimension of free speech in contemporary America.