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DOI: 10.15862/14KLSK126 (https://doi.org/10.15862/14KLSK126)

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Mikhailova M.E. [Self-censorship as a mode of cultural control: an analysis of the internal logic of regulation in twentieth-century cinema] World of Science. Series: Sociology, Philology, Cultural Studies, 2026, Vol. 17, No. 1. Available at: https://sfk-mn.ru/PDF/14KLSK126.pdf (in Russian). DOI: 10.15862/14KLSK126

Self-censorship as a mode of cultural control: an analysis of the internal logic of regulation in twentieth-century cinema

Mikhailova Maria Evgenievna
The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia
E-mail: mareugenmi.58@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8424-1984
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=1272793

Abstract. This article offers a theoretical and analytical interpretation of self-censorship as an autonomous cultural mechanism that cannot be reduced either to institutional censorship or to an individual psychological reaction. Self-censorship is conceptualized as a form of internalized control emerging at the intersection of social norms, institutional expectations, and the subject’s internal regulatory structures. The theoretical framework draws on Michel Foucault’s analysis of power and disciplinary practices, Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and cultural fields, Norbert Elias’s account of the historical internalization of norms, Sigmund Freud’s model of psychodynamic self-regulation, and Yuri Lotman’s semiotic understanding of culture as a system of boundaries that define what is permissible.

The analytical part of the article is based on a comparative discussion of representative cases from the histories of Soviet, American, and French cinema. These cases are used not as empirical data in a strict methodological sense but as illustrative material for identifying structural mechanisms of self-regulation in different institutional and cultural contexts. The analysis demonstrates that
self-censorship functions not merely as a means of avoiding external sanctions but also as a factor shaping aesthetic strategies, thematic choices, and the very language of cinema.

In the conclusion, it is argued that in the selected contexts one can observe a shift from predominantly external forms of control toward internal, anticipatory mechanisms of regulating expression. Self-censorship is thus interpreted as a specific cultural practice embedded in relations of power, identity, and meaning production, as well as a mechanism that structures the boundaries of what can be seen, thought, and articulated in artistic and public discourse.

Keywords: self-censorship; censorship; power and discourse; cinema; restrictive measures; cultural regulation; ideology; control; internalization of norms

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