Repository of University of Wroclaw

Object structure

click here to follow the link

Cancel Culture as an authoritarian dystopia

dystopia authoritarianism erasure cancel culture discrimination exclusion inclusion feminism race transgender sexual orientation

The essay addresses the question to what extent the title phenomenon, cancel culture, represents a new form of authoritarianism. The essay traces the origins and evolution of this phenomenon. It contains a polemic against the widespread thesis that cancel culture is an after math of Marxism or feminism. According to the author, it is an expression of extreme individualism, misogynistic in many manifestations (like classical authoritarianism) and lacking the reference to the material world that socialist movements advocated. Most importantly, however, the author sees in it extreme irrationalism, a departure from reason, underpinned by fear and group conformity. As a panacea, she proposes a return to Enlightenmentcalls, formulated by Immanuel Kant among others, to use one’s reason independently and courageously (Sapere aude). Important areas of social life, such as education or criminal law, cannot be left to the contradictory dogmas of the new orthodoxies. The essay includes an analysis of their discourse, including the notion of “inclusion,” which turns out to be the exclusion of those who think differently, or “safe spaces” in which freedom of speech is out of the question. As someone who has been pondering the issue of emancipation for years, she sees in the phenomenon under discussion its complete negation – an authoritarian dystopia.

Instytut Pedagogiki Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego

doi:10.34616/146560 SBN 978-83-62618-75-0

Attribution, ShareAlike

Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Biblioteka Instytutu Pedagogiki UWr