SPIRAL OF
SILENCE
Spiral of
silence refers to the tendency of people to remain silent in order to avoid
conflict. Proposed by Elisabeth Nuelle-Neumann in 1974, the theory posits a few
reasons why people possibly remain silent. These reasons include fear of
isolation after trying to disturb the status quo, fear of reprisal wherein
voicing out their opinion might lead to something worse than isolation. It is
‘spiral’ since fears continually build up for the minority and it leads them
downward to further silence. This theory also posits that media plays an
important role in the perceptual dictating of the majority’s opinion. Some
examples of these ‘worse situations’ are losing a job, having a ruined
reputation, etc. With this, the minority becomes afraid to voice out their
opinion and does its best to bend down or to adjust to what the majority says.
Fear of
isolation is the core (or backbone) of the spiral of silence. It is the force
that drags one down to the spiral of silence. People would take measures in
order to avoid ending up alone and isolated. People would rather agree with
ideas which they actually do not agree with rather than stand up against it and
be isolated as a consequence.
I’d like to
use my experience as an example to this. I was the type who barely voiced out
her opinions in terms of politics here in our country. My silence managed to
fool nearly everyone that I was uninterested in what’s happening to our
country’s politics. My silence, somehow, helped me avoid conflict. Recently, I
began voicing out my opinions. Luckily, I haven’t been bashed or threatened by
the opposing side of whatever I believe in.
Knowledge gap
theory is concerned about distribution of information and knowledge in the
society. The unequal distribution is causing an increase in the gap between
people who have higher education than those who have lower education. This
theory was proposed by Philip J. Tichenor, George A. Donohue, and Clarice N.
Olien in 1970. The creators of the theory hypothesized: “as the infusion of mass media
information into a social system increases higher socioeconomic status segments
tend to acquire this information faster than lower socioeconomic status
population segments so that gap in knowledge between the two tends to increase
rather than decrease (Tichenor, 1970).”
Some reasons
which may be causing the increasing gap include: media target markets, relevant
social contact, stored information, communication skills, and selective
exposure. The knowledge gap widens as a result of the higher economic class
gaining more benefits. Information services are not made equal for the entire
society; if this continues, the gap of information will continue increasing
over the years.
By the end of
1975, the proponents of the Knowledge Gap theory have proposed three elements
which may, hopefully, reduce the gap: a) Impact of local issues, b) level of
social conflict surrounding the issue, and c) homogeneity of the community.
We can see
the effects of this theory at work today. There are issues and news that not
everyone in the society is aware of. For some cases, others know certain events
only through pictures, not detail by detail. There are some terminologies that
selected people know because they have enough exposure to know. Examples of this include: a) “SuperWhoLock”
refers to the ‘holy trinity’ in tumblr [Supernatural, Doctor Who, Sherlock], b)
When people play Cards Against Humanity, there are certain items found in the
white cards that some do not know the meaning, or they do not understand the
‘green joke’ behind the terms (examples: smegma, Chutzpah, The Make-A-Wish
Foundation, etc.).
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