Cancel Culture as a Style of Communicative Behavior in the Ukrainian Literary and Critical Space of Social Networks

Abstract

The article analyzes the issue of communicative behavior styles among social media users. The research focuses on destructive communication within online communities dedicated to literature. The central topics of such interactions include literary works, prominent writers, and their actions and views. The key concept under examination is “cancel culture,” which has its origins in American and Western European cultural contexts. The aim of the study is to identify the main mechanisms of cancel culture within Ukrainian social media discourse, using the reception of literary works as a manifestation of communicative behaviour. The article examines the ways in which destructive criticism of literary texts and authors is expressed. Cancel culture is defined here as the destruction of a public figure’s reputation based on their actions or statements. This process involves transferring attitudes toward literary works, plots, and authorial ideas, presented in artistic form, onto the writer’s personal identity. The primary means of cancelling are social media posts and comments, which focus not on the literary texts themselves, but rather on a negative evaluation of the author.