{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T04:56:11Z","timestamp":1790744171894,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":64,"publisher":"Wiley","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010333","name":"Zeit-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010333","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["British Journal of Sociology"],"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>This article investigates the relationship between academic career ranks and restrictions on academic freedom. Drawing on a representative survey of 9083 full\u2010time academics at German higher education institutions, we examine how academics across different career ranks assess their freedom in teaching and research. Although precarious employment conditions and professional hierarchies may suggest otherwise, our findings show that doctoral candidates and postdocs on fixed\u2010term contracts do not report experiencing restrictions on their academic freedom significantly more often compared to tenured professors. However, distinguishing between experienced restrictions, on the one hand, and expectations of restrictions as well as broader perceptions of academic freedom on the other, we find that non\u2010tenured academics report more often to expect or perceive their academic freedom to be restricted compared to professors. We explain these rank\u2010based differences with a chilling effect generated by a polemical and polarized discourse on \u2018cancel culture.\u2019 Academics on fixed\u2010term contracts are more likely to be receptive to often polemical debates on \u2018cancel culture\u2019 and for the concerns that come with it. This suggests that structural employment insecurity plays a key role in shaping how academics assess their academic freedom. Our results challenge simplified accounts of \u2018cancel culture\u2019 by showing that discourse and institutional hierarchies intersect to produce differentiated vulnerabilities within academia. Although based in Germany, the findings speak to broader international concerns about restrictions on academic freedom and precarious academic labour. Our research implies, first, that research on academic freedom should attend not only to visible incidents but also to the affective dimensions of anticipated restrictions. Second, it is crucial to take into consideration current employment conditions and budget cuts in higher education when reflecting on the repercussions of illiberal threats to academia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-4446.70171","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T04:18:10Z","timestamp":1790050690000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Is There a \u2018Cancel Culture\u2019, and if so, for Whom? Rank\u2010Based Differences in Restrictions on Academic Freedom"],"prefix":"10.1111","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3196-908X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julian","family":"Hamann","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut f\u00fcr Erziehungswissenschaften Humboldt\u2010Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin  Berlin Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-2964-807X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gregor","family":"Fabian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Deutsches Zentrum f\u00fcr Hochschul\u2010 und Wissenschaftsforschung GmbH (DZHW)  Berlin Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7260-2663","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christiane","family":"Thompson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut f\u00fcr Allgemeine Erziehungswissenschaft Goethe\u2010Universit\u00e4t Frankfurt  Frankfurt am Main Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0668-9606","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paula\u2010Irene","family":"Villa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institut f\u00fcr Soziologie Ludwig\u2010Maximilians Universit\u00e4t M\u00fcnchen  M\u00fcnchen Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_11_2_1","volume-title":"Academic Freedom in the UK","author":"Adekoya R.","year":"2020"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/s41307\u2010023\u201000305\u20104"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10978\u2010023\u201009373\u20102"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1468\u20104446.13142"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41562\u2010021\u201001178\u20106"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11127\u2010021\u201000931\u20109"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/socpro\/spaa019"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3278\/6004603bw"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/09579265221095407"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.22439\/fs.v0i0.4937"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2301642120"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_13_1","unstructured":"Cooper B.2024. \u201cHow Are Universities Protecting Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom? 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