İptal kültürü: Dijital çağda toplumsal denetimin yeni boyutu

Yıl 2025, Sayı: 1, 53 - 74, 30.06.2025

Beril Özer

Öz

Bu çalışma, dijitalleşmeyle birlikte sosyal medya platformlarında şekillenen iptal kültürü olgusunu yeni nesil bir toplumsal denetim mekanizması olarak ele almaktadır. Antik dönemden modern totaliter rejimlere kadar uzanan tarihsel dışlama pratiklerinden beslenen iptal kültürü, dijital çağda kullanıcılar arası etkileşim ve gözetim yoluyla yeniden biçimlenmiştir. Makalede, iptal kültürünün tarihsel kökenleri ve teorik arka planı incelenmiş; sosyal medyanın toplumsal normlar üzerindeki dönüştürücü etkisi Marshall McLuhan’ın teknolojik determinizm yaklaşımı ve Jürgen Habermas’ın kamusal alan kuramı çerçevesinde değerlendirilmiştir. ABD merkezli #MeToo ve Black Lives Matter gibi hareketlerin yanı sıra Türkiye’deki örnekler üzerinden iptal kültürünün yerel ve küresel tezahürleri karşılaştırmalı biçimde analiz edilmiştir. Çalışma, iptal kültürünün ifade özgürlüğünü tehdit eden ve kutuplaşmayı derinleştiren yönlerine dikkat çekerken, aynı zamanda marjinalleştirilmiş grupların seslerini duyurmasına olanak tanıyan bir hesap sorma aracı işlevi de gördüğünü ortaya koymaktadır. Bu bağlamda iptal kültürü, dijital çağın ifade rejimleri, toplumsal sorumluluk anlayışı ve demokratik diyalog potansiyelleri arasındaki gerilimleri yansıtan çok katmanlı bir olgu olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Çalışma, iptal kültürünün teknolojik belirlenim, kamusal alan ve toplumsal denetim kavramlarıyla ilişkisini açıklamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

sosyal bilimler , dijitalleşme , iptal kültürü , sosyal medya , toplumsal denetim

Cancel culture: A new dimension of social control in the digital age

Öz

This study examines the phenomenon of cancel culture, which has taken shape through digitalization and the widespread use of social media platforms, as a new-generation mechanism of social control. Drawing from historical practices of exclusion that extend from antiquity to modern totalitarian regimes, cancel culture is reconfigured in the digital age through user interaction and participatory surveillance. The article explores the historical roots and theoretical foundations of cancel culture, evaluating the transformative impact of social media on societal norms within the frameworks of Marshall McLuhan’s technological determinism and Jürgen Habermas’s theory of the public sphere. By offering a comparative analysis of both global movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter and local cases in Turkey, the study situates cancel culture within both global and national contexts. The research highlights cancel culture’s threats to free expression and polarization, but also its potential as an accountability tool that amplifies marginalized voices. Cancel culture is understood as a multifaceted phenomenon that reflects the tensions among expression regimes, social responsibility, and democratic dialogue in the digital age. The study explains the relationship between cancel culture and the concepts of technological determinism, the public sphere, and social control.

Anahtar Kelimeler

social science , digitalization , cancel culture , social media , public accountability

Kaynakça

• Abdulahi, A., Samadi, B. ve Gharleghi, B. (2014). A study on the negative effects of social networking sites such as Facebook among Asia Pacific University scholars in Malaysia. International journal of business and social science, 5(10), 133-145. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-Study-on-the-Negative-Effects-of-Social-Sites-as-Abdulahi-Samadi/78acca4b41888e02be44a3e10eadd258d5ada16d
• Andrejevic, M. (2004). The work of watching one another: Lateral surveillance, risk, and governance. Surveillance & society, 2(4), 479-497. https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v2i4.3359
• Aytüre, S. (2022). Antik Roma siyasi kültüründe damnatio memoriae. Anadolu Arşivleri, 16(1), 19-34. https://doi.org/10.46931/aran.2022.16.1.2
• BBC Türkçe. (2022, 23 Ocak). Sezen Aksu’nun “Beni öldüremezsin; sesim, sazım, sözüm var benim” dediği şarkısı dünya dillerine çevrildi. https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-turkiye-60036599
• Bridges, K. M. (2022, 26 Ocak). Language on the move: “Cancel culture,” “critical race theory,” and the digital public sphere. Yale law journal forum, 131. https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/language-on-the-move
• Bouvier, G. ve Machin, D. (2021). What gets lost in Twitter ‘cancel culture’ hashtags? Calling out racists reveals some limitations of social justice campaigns. Discourse & society, 32(3), 307-327. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926520977215
• Bromwich, J. E. (2018, 28 Haziran). Everyone is cancelled. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/style/is-it-canceled.html
• Castells, M. (2005). The networked society: From knowledge to policy. Brookings Institution.
• Christakis, N. A. ve Fowler, J. H. (2012). Sosyal ağların şaşırtan gücü ve yaşantımızı biçimlendiren etkisi (Çev. D. Yüksel). Varlık.
• Clark, M. D. (2020). Drag them: A brief etymology of so-called “cancel culture.” Communication and the public, 5(2-3), 88-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/2057047320961562
• CNN Türk. (2020, 9 Aralık). Ünlü yazar Hasan Ali Toptaş’ın tacizleri ifşa oldu! 20’ye yakın kadın yaşadıklarını anlattı. https://www.cnnturk.com/turkiye/unlu-yazar-hasan-ali-toptasin-tacizleri-ifsa-oldu-20ye-yakin-kadin-yasadiklarini-anlatti-1596391
• cumhuriyet.com.tr. (2022, 22 Haziran). Şahan Gökbakar’dan çok sert ‘Marmaris’ tepkisi: ‘Nerede bu uçaklar?’. https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/yasam/sahan-gokbakardan-cok-sert-marmaris-tepkisi-nerede-bu-ucaklar-1949922
• Diether, E., Yi, S., Argyle, L. P. ve Busby, E. C. (2024). The political psychology of cancel culture: Value framing or group identity?. Political research quarterly, 77(4), 1130-1145. https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129241261374
• Diken. (2022, 19 Eylül). Konseri iptal edilen Aleyna Tilki: Cadı avı dönemine döndük ama yaksanız da ölmem. https://www.diken.com.tr/konseri-iptal-edilen-aleyna-tilki-cadi-avi-donemine-donduk-ama-yaksaniz-da-olmem/
• du Quenoy, P. (2021). Cancel culture: Tales from the front lines. Academica.
• Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (Çev. A. Sheridan). Vintage.
• Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the internet: Platforms, content moderation, and the hidden decisions that shape social media. Yale University.
• Habermas, J. (2015). Kamusallığın yapısal dönüşümü (Çev. M. Sancar ve T. Bora). İletişim.
• Haskell, S. (2021). Cancel culture: A qualitative analysis of the social media practice of canceling (Yüksek lisans tezi). Boise Eyalet Üniversitesi, Idaho.
• Heath, J. (2023, 3 Aralık). A simple theory of cancel culture. Due course. https://josephheath.substack.com/p/a-simple-theory-of-cancel-culture
• Hill Cummings, K., Zafari, B. ve Beitelspacher, L. (2025). #Canceled! Exploring the phenomenon of canceling. Journal of business research, 186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.115025
• Hill, M. L. (2018). “Thank you, black Twitter”: State violence, digital counterpublics, and pedagogies of resistance. Urban education, 53(2), 286-302. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085917747124
• Jaafar, G. B. ve Herna, H. (2023). The impact of media in cancel culture phenomenon. Jurnal komunikasi ıkatan sarjana komunikasi Indonesia, 8(2), 382-390. https://doi.org/10.25008/jkiski.v8i2.893
• Jan, A., Shakirullah, S. ve Naz, S. (2020). Marshal McLuhan’s technological determinism theory in the arena of social media. Theoretical and practical research in economic fields, 11(2), 133-137. https://doi.org/10.14505/tpref.v11.2(22).07
• Kundakçı, D. (2018). Atı̇na demokrası̇sı̇nı̇n zayıf karnı: Leitourgia, sykophantēs ve ostrakı̇smos uygulamaları. FLSF: Felsefe ve sosyal bilimler dergisi, 26, 241-266. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/flsf/issue/41871/464604
• Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford University.
• Lizza, R. (2020, 22 Temmuz). Americans tune in to ‘cancel culture’-and don’t like what they see. Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/22/americans-cancel-culture-377412
• Lu, C. (2019, 18 Aralık 18). Cancel culture is chaotic good. Jstor daily. https://daily.jstor.org/cancel-culture-is-chaotic-good/
• Lyon, D. (2006). Surveillance studies: An overview. Polity.
• McLuhan, M. (1994). Understanding media: The extensions of man. The MIT.
• McQuail, D. (2010). McQuail’s mass communication theory. Sage.
• Ng, E. (2020). No grand pronouncements here...: Reflections on cancel culture and digital media participation. Television & new media, 21(6), 621-627. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1527476420918828
• Norris, P. (2020, 3 Ağustos). Closed minds? Is a ‘cancel culture’ stifling academic freedom and intellectual debate in political science?. HKS working paper. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3671026
• Norris, P. (2021). Cancel culture: Myth or reality?. Political studies, 71(1), 145-174. https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217211037023
• Owens, E. (2023). The case for cancel culture: How this democratic tool works to liberate us all. St. Martin’s.
• Özer, N. P. (2019a). Bilgi sosyolojisi ve iletişim. Çizgi.
• Özer, N. P. (2019b). İdeoloji, iktidar, medya, söylem. Çizgi.
• Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The virtual sphere: The internet as a public sphere. New media & society, 4(1), 9-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614440222226244
• Picarella, L. (2024). Intersections in the digital society: Cancel culture, fake news, and contemporary public discourse. Frontiers in sociology, 9, 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1376049
• Pinch, T. J. ve Bijker, W. E. (1984). The social construction of facts and artifacts. Social studies of science, 14(3), 399-441. https://doi.org/10.1177/030631284014003004
• Roldan, C. J. L., Ong, A. K. S. ve Tomas, D. Q. (2024). Cancel culture in a developing country: A belief in a just world behavioral analysis among generation Z. Acta Psychologica, 248. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104378
• Saint-Louis, H. (2021). Understanding cancel culture: Normative and unequal sanctioning. First monday, 26(7), 1-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v26i7.10891
• Lo, S. M., Araque, O., Sharma, R. ve Stranisci, M. A. (2025). That is unacceptable: The moral foundations of canceling. arXiv: 2503.05720. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2503.05720
• Tandoc, E. C., Tan Hui Ru, B., Lee Huei, G., Min Qi Charlyn, N., Chua, R. A. ve Goh, Z. H. (2022). #CancelCulture: Examining definitions and motivations. New media & society, 26(4), 1944-1962. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221077977
• Tufekci, Z. (2015). Algorithmic harms beyond Facebook and Google: Emergent challenges of computational agency. Colorado technology law journal, 13(2), 203-218. https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/ctlj/vol13/iss2/4
• van Dijck, J. (2013). The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media. Oxford University.
• Velasco, J. C. (2020). You are cancelled: Virtual collective consciousness and the emergence of cancel culture as ideological purging. Rupkatha journal on interdisciplinary studies in humanities, 12(5), 1-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s21n2
• Yıldırım, A. ve Şimşek, H. (2018). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri. Seçkin.
• Zarkov, D. ve Davis, K. (2018). Ambiguities and dilemmas around #MeToo: #ForHowLong and #WhereTo?. European journal of women’s studies, 25(1), 3-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350506817749436