Pop Culture Censorship and Authoritarian Stability

• In Event: Sources of Popular Support for Authoritarian Regimes

Abstract

Why do dictators censor popular culture? Existing theories of censorship focus on suppressing political dissent, but entertainment rarely sparks collective action. Drawing on literature on support for censorship in democracies, this paper develops and tests the theory that popular culture censorship serves not just to suppress political thought, but to appease and reward dictators’ conservative supporters. Text analysis of original data on the 8,000 international films reviewed for domestic distribution during Chile’s dictatorship shows that most films were banned for violent or sexual content. Political themes impacted censorship primarily during regime consolidation. Results cannot be explained by distributor self-censorship or censor preferences, providing suggestive evidence that conservative interests motivated bans. Qualitative evidence supports the interpretation that film bans served as a policy reward to conservative supporters, particularly restrictive Catholic groups. Findings suggest that even repressive measures, like censorship, can be used to build popular support for authoritarian regimes.

Author

• Jane Esberg, Princeton University