Blog #9 EOTO: Beyond the Definition

 Spiral of Silence

Have you ever been talking with a group of friends, and someone brings up a topic that you heavily disagree with? Instead of bringing up your opinion, you silence yourself and don't say anything to the group? Why do we do this? Why do we sometimes choose to internalize our thoughts and opinions to protect the comfort of others? Lets take a look in the phenomenon behind it all, the Spiral of Silence.

According to the Spiral of Silence theory, individuals will be more confident and outward with their opinion when they notice that their personal opinion is shared throughout the group. However, if the individual realizes that their opinion is unpopular with the group, they will be more inclined to be reserved and remain silent. Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, a German political scientist, proposed this theory during the 1970s to attempt to explain why Germans who disagreed with Hitler and the Nazi's remained silent until after his regime died. This theory focuses on how sways in public opinion come about.      

Humans are naturally social creatures. We crave attention, emotional connections, and  companionship. When our relationships are threatened we tend to do everything in our power to maintain them. This being said, we are all afraid of social isolation. We tend to observe other peoples' behavior in order to find out which opinions are met with approval or rejection. The Spiral of Silence theory comes into play here. The public sphere plays a large role in how we conduct ourselves; we choose to stay silent during times of disagreement to avoid being exiled from our social groups. For example, this "isolation pressure"  is exerted by people when they frown upon or turn someone away because of something they said or did that public opinion doesn't agree with. This phenomenon brings a lot of negativity with it. Social isolation and loneliness have been linked to health conditions such as heart disease, strokes, depression, addiction, dementia, and the list continues. So this constant pressure that we feel to fit in and keep peace within a group is because of the fear of isolation. 

The Spiral of Silence affects society as a whole because wherever people live in societies, public opinion will act as a mechanism of social control. Public opinion will also stabilize and integrate society because conflicts will be resolved in spirals of silence in favor of one opinion. In society, there will always be a voice that is unconsciously being silenced because of the fear of criticism. There is most likely so many opinions and ideas regarding the government, school system, etc. that we will never hear because of the workings of this theory. Moreover, to resist isolation, people holding these minority views either alter their thinking to conform to the majority views or remain silent. This then becomes a cycle, creating the constantly increasing impression of the majority’s view. The Spiral of Silence can affect every social group, every ethnicity, everyone everywhere. It has no limits because we all feel the same basic human
emotions, such as fear of isolation and anxiety.  

On the generally positive side of this theory, it does not tend to happen because it is usually elicited by controversial issues. Typically there is no Spiral of Silence within a group when it is noticeable that everyone agrees on one opinion. Individuals who feel support tend to express their opinions loudly and confidently. This can be a great thing because many people do have wonderful and innovative ideas that do need to be publicly supported. 

In my life, I have seen this spiral happen first hand. There have been many disputes in friend groups through high school, and many teens wouldn't voice their opinions until they were surrounded only by a small majority who also agreed with them. This greatly affects many families and friend groups because I believe a lot of people stay silent when they shouldn't. Sometimes addressing and confronting an issue can be a very scary and stressful concept, but change does not happen when everyone is comfortable. This also corresponds to our government, there are those that are willing to stand up and protest without the fear of backlash, however, there are so many voices out there being silenced. Due to the thought of being exiled and punished. The Spiral of Silence is present in everyone's life, we just don't always see it or observe how our actions/words may be creating it. We have to watch and make sure we are not creating the spiral, and also keep ourselves from falling into it as well.

Society needs to begin protecting everyone's opinion. We are each unique and entitled to our own thoughts; we should be able to share it and be confident that we will not be scorned and humiliated.