Social Surveillance in the Context of Cancel Culture

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to explore how people perceive and experience surveillance in the context of cancel culture. Surveillance Imaginary Theory and Moral Reasoning Theory drove the research question: how do social media users describe the construction of surveillance in the context of cancel culture? A sample of eleven individuals was recruited by convenience sampling and snowball sampling. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews. Data analysis applied an Interpretive Content Analysis approach of inductive coding to generate three main themes. Social media users described the construction of surveillance as negotiating in/visibility, including weighting the benefits and risks of different audience groups, balancing the risk of exposure against social responsibility, and constructing distinctions in visibility norms.