Spark Talk: “Understanding the Benefits of Online Public Shaming” by Jennifer Forestal (March 14th, 2025)
Mar 14, 2025
10:30AM to 11:30AM
Date/Time
Date(s) - 14/03/2025
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Description: “Cancel culture” has a bad reputation, but public shaming can be valuable tool for democratic accountability. How can we make sure it’s used productively? In this talk, I use the cases of Twitter, Wikipedia, and Reddit to discuss how the effects of public shaming are shaped by the community structure—shaming is useful in clearly defined, close-knit communities, but many (though not all!) social media platforms do not provide this context.
Bio: Jennifer Forestal is the Helen Houlahan Rigali Assistant Professor of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago. She is a political theorist whose research explores the relationship between democratic politics and digital culture. Her first book, Designing for Democracy: How to Build Community in Digital Environments (Oxford UP, 2022) won the Don K. Price Award for best book in science, technology, and politics, as well as the APSA Information Technology & Politics Best Book Award.