The spiral of silence is a political science and mass communication theory propounded by the German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. Spiral of silence theory describes the process by which one opinion becomes dominant as those who perceive their opinion to be in the minority do not speak up because they fear isolation from society.
Read more about Spiral Of Silence: Background, What Is Public Opinion, Public, Opinion, The Spiral Model, Fear of Isolation: Conformity Drives The Spiral, Overcoming The Silence, Current Research, Cross Cultural Studies, Criticisms
Famous quotes containing the words spiral and/or silence:
“What is art,
But life upon the larger scale, the higher,
When, graduating up in a spiral line
Of still expanding and ascending gyres,
It pushes toward the intense significance
Of all things, hungry for the Infinite?
Art’s life,—and where we live, we suffer and toil.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
“Crouching down where nothing stirs
In the silence of the furze,
Crouching down again to brood
In the sunny solitude.”
—James Kenneth Stephens (1882–1950)