{"id":8398,"date":"2022-06-09T11:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T16:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/a-growing-share-of-americans-are-familiar-with-cancel-culture\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:55:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:55:53","slug":"a-growing-share-of-americans-are-familiar-with-cancel-culture","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2022\/06\/09\/a-growing-share-of-americans-are-familiar-with-cancel-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"A growing share of Americans are familiar with \u2018cancel culture\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Americans have become increasingly aware of the phrase \u201ccancel culture,\u201d according to a new Pew Research Center survey. And when it comes to calling out other people for posting potentially offensive content on social media, the public has become somewhat more likely to see this type of behavior as punishing people who didn\u2019t deserve it, rather than holding them accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overall, 61% of U.S. adults say they have heard at least a fair amount about the phrase \u201ccancel culture,\u201d up from 44% in September 2020, the first time the Center asked about the term<\/a>. Since then, several major news stories have highlighted the phrase<\/a>, while politicians<\/a> and the media<\/a> have debated the term and what it means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The share of Americans who are unfamiliar with the term \u201ccancel culture\u201d has shrunk 17 percentage points since 2020. But there are still about four-in-ten who say they have heard not too much (16%) or nothing at all (23%) about the phrase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awareness of cancel culture has grown across demographic groups, but one of the largest increases has come among older adults. The share of adults ages 65 and older who say they have heard a great deal or a fair amount about cancel culture has risen from 33% in 2020 to 53% today.<\/p>\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>