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:
“Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still as the spiral grew,
He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)
“poems direct as what the birds said,
hard as a floor, sound as a bench,
mysterious as the silence when the tailor
would pause with his needle in the air.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)