Making sense of America's book ban boom

A new study in PNAS Nexus takes an empirical look at the U.S. book ban landscape.

Book bans in public schools are increasingly common in the United States, with the 2021–2022 school year seeing a higher number of bans than any previous year. The contexts in which these bans take place are fragmented and complex, often driven by collaborations between local parent organizations and national political organizations. 

A new study in PNAS Nexus, co-authored by Incite's Jack LaViolette, makes empirical sense of this rise, examining the genres of books being banned (as well as their authors), the socio-political contexts in which bans occur, as well as the impact of bans on the popularity of banned titles.

Among other findings, the authors found that banned books are disproportionately written by people of color and feature characters of color, both fictional and historical, and that bans are more likely to occur in right-leaning counties that have become less conservative over time. Moreover, many banned titles have "low interest" prior to bans and are not subject to meaningful changes in interest after a ban has been put in place.

The authors suggest that these findings indicate that book bans function more as symbolic political actions intended to galvanize shrinking voting blocs than as effective censorship efforts.

Read more in PNAS Nexus.