Online public shaming
an empirical analysis of contemporary online shaming punishments
Keywords:
online public shaming, cancel culture, shaming punishmentAbstract
Online public shamings, popularly known as cancel culture, are a contemporary phenomenon in which someone, caught in wrongdoing, is exposed on social media platforms, going viral and attracting mass criticism; business partners and employers then might decide to cut ties with the culprit. Authors such as Taylor (2022), Trottier (2018) and Aitchison and Meckled-Garcia (2021), study how shame is the main punishment instrument used in such cases, but do not engage in empirical research to demonstrate it. This article aims, then, to demonstrate the characterization of the phenomenon as shaming punishments by using empirical data of a single case study—Justine Sacco’s (2013). The intention is to verify if cases like Sacco’s are a form of shaming punishment, and to describe and analyze their specificities. By using Twitter data and network analysis, this article empirically demonstrates that Sacco’s shaming is a punishes her by exposing her to the world as an essentially flawed person. Shame encompasses her whole person, who is placed outside the community of trustworthy individuals, in a simple moral world divided between “good and bad, allies and enemies, human and subhuman” (Tyson, 2022, p. 129), resulting in her being fired and subjected to world infamy.
Le pubbliche umiliazioni online, comunemente note come cancel culture, sono un fenomeno contemporaneo in cui una persona, colta in una condotta ritenuta riprovevole, viene esposta sulle piattaforme dei social media, diventando virale e attirando critiche di massa; partner commerciali e datori di lavoro possono quindi decidere di interrompere i rapporti con il colpevole. Autori come Taylor (2022), Trottier (2018) e Aitchison e Meckled-Garcia (2021) studiano come la vergogna costituisca il principale strumento punitivo in questi casi, ma non si impegnano in ricerche empiriche volte a dimostrarlo. Questo articolo si propone dunque di dimostrare la caratterizzazione del fenomeno come forma di punizione fondata sulla vergogna (shaming punishment) utilizzando dati empirici relativi a un singolo caso di studio: quello di Justine Sacco (2013). L’obiettivo è verificare se casi come quello di Sacco possano essere considerati una forma di punizione tramite umiliazione pubblica, nonché descriverne e analizzarne le specificità. Attraverso l’analisi dei dati provenienti da Twitter e mediante strumenti di network analysis, l’articolo dimostra empiricamente come l’umiliazione pubblica subita da Sacco funzioni come una punizione che la espone al mondo come una persona intrinsecamente difettosa. La vergogna finisce così per investire l’intera persona, collocandola al di fuori della comunità degli individui degni di fiducia, all’interno di un semplice universo morale diviso tra «buoni e cattivi, alleati e nemici, umani e subumani» (Tyson, 2022, p. 129), con il risultato di portare al suo licenziamento e alla sua esposizione a una forma di infamia globale.
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