EOTO 2: The Spiral of Silence

My EOTO presentation was on the Spiral of Silence. The concept of spiral of silence was created by Elisabeth Noelle Neumann, who was a German political scientist. I believe that the modern day definition of spiral of silence is self-censorship. However, Britannica defines it as “the study of human communication and public opinion, the theory that people’s willingness to express their opinions on controversial public issues is affected by their largely unconscious perception of those opinions as being either popular or unpopular.”

The spiral of silence is present in every-day life. I believe it’s present in modern day life because many people are afraid to speak up or speak out for fear of being judged or having a minority opinion. Examples of the spiral of silence are having opposing views and not speaking out during political campaigns because of differing candidates and strong opinions about each candidate.

Another example would be not speaking out against workplace discrimination. I use the example of workplace discrimination, because many workforces experience issues of discrimination, but I feel that more often than not many people do not speak out because if it’s ignored then the problem will dissipate and supposedly disappear. The last example that I felt is present in every-day life is disagreeing with a majority opinion, but keeping your thoughts to yourself for fear of being the minority opinion. 

 The spiral of silence as any other theory has its positives and negatives. For example, the positives of the spiral of silence are the ability that everyone is able to have an opinion, another positive is the role of popular opinions and influence. However, every positive has its negatives. I feel that a major negative of the spiral of silence is the lack of opinions being heard, another negative is that it makes other people’s opinions the minority if they disagree. Lastly, I feel that the spiral of silence can misconstrue public opinion. A quote I feel aligns with the spiral of silence comes from an article in The CUT from Elizabeth Suhay which states “The majority just assumes that everybody thinks like them,” “and people in the minority think they’re the only ones.” The spiral of silence can also affect different groups on the basis of race, gender, and social class. 

For example, systemic racism and prejudice can affect how people of color are viewed and judged in the work-force, sexism is another illustration of judgement of women in their personal or work lives. Whereas classism and elitism are judgements based on your social class. 

Lastly, the personal effects I have from the spiral of silence are my inability to voice my opinion if I feel that I’ll be judged. I also struggle to listen to other people’s opinions if I disagree, and I have noticed that I am more open to listen to other people if we have the same views or opinions. Throughout my research I have learned that the spiral of silence is a part of a bigger scheme of theories that describe different phenomenon's in the world. In closing, I believe the spiral of silence is a very important theory that can help explain why people are not likely to share their opinions.