“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it”.
– Robert Frost
Public opinion
In the last entry I spoke about mass communication and why nowadays we talk simply about media and don’t use the term “mass media” anymore. Following with that, we ought to wonder when did people’s opinion start to be taken into account. The concept of public opinion is related to the mass and also strongly tied to democracy. The French Revolution and the American Revolutionary War both played an important role in paving the road to democracy, but the biggest step towards paying attention to the people’s thoughts was only possible thanks to mass media.
In the last entry I spoke about mass communication and why nowadays we talk simply about media and don’t use the term “mass media” anymore. Following with that, we ought to wonder when did people’s opinion start to be taken into account. The concept of public opinion is related to the mass and also strongly tied to democracy. The French Revolution and the American Revolutionary War both played an important role in paving the road to democracy, but the biggest step towards paying attention to the people’s thoughts was only possible thanks to mass media.
There might be a significant difference between what we think others think and what they really think, though. There’s where the concept of perceived public opinion comes on the scene. We can never be sure of what others think, but we do have a perception of what we think is the majority’s opinion. When we think that our own personal beliefs don’t match the majority’s view we might be less likely to voice our thoughts.
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| Source: www.saintpetersblog.com |
Spiral of silence
That fear of expressing an opinion that is perceived as a minority was first explained by Elizabeth Noelle-Nuemann in her theory of the spiral of silence. She explained the phenomenon of the spiral of silence in the context of the Nazi Germany. But long before that, there have been plenty of examples of this occurrence in history, both in everyday life and in popular culture.
One of the most notorious ones is in the tale The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen. In that story, the emperor walks in a parade wearing a suit that was, supposedly, invisible for anyone who was “stupid or incompetent”. The emperor had been tricked and was actually naked, but nobody dares to say the truth fearing they will be considered stupid or incompetent. In the end, a little boy speaks up and screams “He’s naked!” and only then the public loses the fear and voices their true opinion.
The spiral of silence, therefore, takes place when individuals think their point of view is a minority and censor themselves because they’re afraid of being isolated. This happens especially when one thinks their opinion will lose more support in the future. The ones who think are a majority punish this minority and try to silence them. When people with similar opinions don’t voice them, the idea loses more support and it will continue to be perceived as a minority.
That fear of expressing an opinion that is perceived as a minority was first explained by Elizabeth Noelle-Nuemann in her theory of the spiral of silence. She explained the phenomenon of the spiral of silence in the context of the Nazi Germany. But long before that, there have been plenty of examples of this occurrence in history, both in everyday life and in popular culture.
One of the most notorious ones is in the tale The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen. In that story, the emperor walks in a parade wearing a suit that was, supposedly, invisible for anyone who was “stupid or incompetent”. The emperor had been tricked and was actually naked, but nobody dares to say the truth fearing they will be considered stupid or incompetent. In the end, a little boy speaks up and screams “He’s naked!” and only then the public loses the fear and voices their true opinion.
The spiral of silence, therefore, takes place when individuals think their point of view is a minority and censor themselves because they’re afraid of being isolated. This happens especially when one thinks their opinion will lose more support in the future. The ones who think are a majority punish this minority and try to silence them. When people with similar opinions don’t voice them, the idea loses more support and it will continue to be perceived as a minority.
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| Spiral of silence. Source: www.comindwork.com |
As can be seen in the picture above, media has a significant role in this incident. Media tells people, if not what to think, what to think about. Media expresses views that are usually considered as the opinions of the majority. If one’s opinion is not on the media, then one will probably think that the majority thinks differently. That’s why representation, objectivity, diversity and independence are so important in media, in order not to keep the spiral of silence alive and going. And those are goals that I, as a student in the field of Communication, expect to contribute to as well.
Breaking the silence
There are two ways of breaking the spiral of silence, or two kinds of people who break it: on the one hand, hardcore nonconformists, who have very strong opinions and values and don’t get influenced by the majority’s opinion; and, on the other hand, avant garde visionaries, the first ones who dare to speak up. In the tale of the emperor, even when the kid is the first one who speaks up, we can’t consider him an avant garde visionary. He speaks up not because he’s a visionary, but because he isn’t concerned about the public opinion, what makes him rather a nonconformist.
Another interesting case is Michel de Montaigne, an important philosopher of the French Renaissance (thanks to my History of Political Thinking class for this input!). He was a skeptical and thought that cultures, ideas and religions were neither true nor false; they were just superstitions for him. But at the same time, he was a conformist and advised not to voice opinions contrary to the beliefs of the majority because that could be dangerous. Of course, that was said in a time when Inquisition was in full force in Europe, but he was still contributing to the spiral of silence – 400 years before that theory was even formulated!
Here’s a video we watched during the lecture that explains how the spiral of silence can be broken by an avant garde visionary:
Silence in the Basque
Country
Anthony T. Spencer and Stephen M. Croucher carried out a study about the spiral of silence regarding the Basque terrorist organization ETA[1]. They found out that, although neither French, Spanish nor Basque respondents had a good opinion about ETA, French and Spanish residents were less likely to voice their opinion in front of Basque residents. They also discovered that Spanish residents outside the Basque Country had the most unfavorable opinion of ETA, while French residents had the least unfavorable opinion.
They conclude that, since Spanish residents live closer to the violence than French residents, the fear of isolation and therefore the effect of the spiral of silence is stronger in Spain than in France. That spiral of silence happens especially in front of Basque residents, mainly because ETA is part of the Basque group.
Anthony T. Spencer and Stephen M. Croucher carried out a study about the spiral of silence regarding the Basque terrorist organization ETA[1]. They found out that, although neither French, Spanish nor Basque respondents had a good opinion about ETA, French and Spanish residents were less likely to voice their opinion in front of Basque residents. They also discovered that Spanish residents outside the Basque Country had the most unfavorable opinion of ETA, while French residents had the least unfavorable opinion.
They conclude that, since Spanish residents live closer to the violence than French residents, the fear of isolation and therefore the effect of the spiral of silence is stronger in Spain than in France. That spiral of silence happens especially in front of Basque residents, mainly because ETA is part of the Basque group.
[1] Anthony T. Spencer and
Stephen M. Croucher; Basque Nationalism and the Spiral of Silence:
An Analysis of Public Perceptions of ETA in Spain and France; International
Communication Gazette 2008; 70; 137; DOI:
10.1177/1748048507086909
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