Spiral of Silence
People sometimes mute their honest opinions and align themselves with a certain viewpoint that seems to get the most play from their peers.
This can happen with your friend group in grade school just as easily as it can happen with politicians crafting their platform for an election.
As a result, certain opinions remain unsaid — spiraling farther and farther away from the set of acceptable thoughts and ideas in society.
People become increasingly hesitant to voice their increasingly unpopular opinions.
They’re made to believe that “it must just be me who feels this way” and sometimes the unpopular ideas can disappear from our cultural imagination entirely.
The term “Spiral of Silence” was coined by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, describing how interpersonal communication and the media operate together in the development of public opinion:
“The spiral of silence occurs when individuals who perceive that their opinions are popular express them, whereas those who don’t think their opinions are popular remain quiet. This process occurs in a spiral, so that one side of an issue ends up with much publicity and the other side with very little.” (1)
The spiraling process is disorganized, yet often deliberate.
