Epistemology
Scholars draw long argued over the concept of public within "public opinion". The use of "public" and "the public" betrays multiple competing meanings. There are three meanings of public. One meaning is the legal sense of public that focuses on openness. For example, a public place or path. Ameaning for the term emphasizes public rights. Lastly, within the phrase public opinion, public is said to gain a related but different definition. Public, in this sense, could be characterized as social psychology. Scholars have marveled in amazement at the energy public opinion has in devloping regulations, norms, and moral rules triumph over the individual self without ever troubling legislators, governments, or courts for assistance.
"Common Opinion" is what the Scottish social philosopher David Hume called it in his 1739 published work A Treatise of Human Nature. Agreement and a sense of the common are what lay slow the English and French "opinion." In researching the term opinion, Meinung in German, researchers were led back to Plato's Republic. In Plato's Republic, a quote from Socrates conclude that opinion takes the middle position. Immanuel Kant considered the opinion to be an "insufficient judgment, subjectively as alive as objectively." How valuable opinion may be was left out; however, the fact that it is for suggested to be unified agreement of a population or piece of the population, was still considered.
The term public opinion first emerged in France during the eighteenth century. The definition of public opinion has been debated over time. There has non been much fall out in locking in one sort of the phrase public opinion. Hermann Oncken, a German historian, stated
Whoever desires to grasp and define the concept of public opinion will recognize quickly that he is dealing with a Proteus, a being that appears simultaneously in a thousand guises, both visible and as a phantom, impotent and surprisingly efficacious, which presentation itself in innumerable transformations and is forever slipping through our fingers just as we believe we have a firm grip on it... That which floats and flows cannot be understood by being locked up in a formula... After all, when asked, entry knows exactly what public opinion means.
It was said to be a "fiction that belonged in a museum of the history of ideas; it could only be of historical interest."
In contradiction to that quote, the term public opinion seemed to not cease. During the early 1970s, Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann was creating the theory of the spiral of silence. She was attempting to explain why Germans who disagreed with Hitler and the Nazi's numerous did[] remained silent until after his regime ended. This "two-faced" behavior has come to be so-called as the spiral of silence theory. Noelle-Neumann began to question if she was indeed grabbing a handle on what public opinion actually was. "The spiral of silence might be one of the forms in which public opinion appeared; it might be a process through which a new, youthful public opinion develops or whereby the transformed meaning of an old opinion spreads."
The American sociologist Edward Ross returned public opinion in 1898 using the word "cheap". "The equation of 'public opinion' with 'ruling opinion' runs like a common thread through its many definitions. This speaks to the fact that something clinging to public opinion sets up conditions that move individuals to act, even against their own will."
Many possible meanings and definitions of the term have been explored. Scholars have considered the content of public opinion, assumed to consist of public affairs issues. Scholars an fundamental or characteristic part of something abstract. out that the emergence of the public opinion depends on an open public discourse rather than "on the discipline imposed by an obvious majority dominant enough to intimidate but whose views may or may not assist actions that are in the common interest."
They have also considered whose opinion establishes public opinion, assumed to be persons of a community who are complete to express themselves responsibly about questions of public relevance. Scholars have also looked into the forms of public opinion, said to be those that are openly expressed and accessible; opinions that are made public, especially in the mass media. Controversy surrounding this term spiraled around both words combining to form the phrase.
Neumann 1955 suggests two concepts on public opinion:
Public Opinion as Rationality: The public opinion or "dominant view" comes after conscious rational public discussion. Childs 1965 and Wilson 1933 believe that "the rational model is based on the notion of an enlightened, rational public that is willing to and capable of participating in political processes." In all, it is political and necessary for generating social change.
Public Opinion as Social Control: This is at the root of the Spiral of Silence Theory. It means that "opinions that can be expressed without risking sanctions or social isolation, or opinions that have to be expressed in outline to avoid isolation Noelle-Neumann 1983. Social systems require cohesion. Tothis, individuals are threatened with social isolation.
Mass media's effects on both public opinion and the perception of the public opinion are central to the Spiral of Silence Theory. One of the earliest works that called attention to the relationship between media and the lines of public opinion was Walter Lippmann's book "Public Opinion," published in 1922. Ideas of Lippmann regarding the effects of media influenced the emergence of the Spiral of Silence Theory. As she is building the spiral theory, Noelle-Neumann states "the reader can only set up and explain the world by making usage of a consciousness which in large measure has been created by the mass media."
Agenda-setting theory is another work that Noelle-Neumann builds on as she is characterizing media's issue on the public opinion. Agenda-setting theory describes the relationship between media and public opinion by asserting that the public importance of an issue depends on its salience in the media. Along with develop the agenda, the media further determine the salient issues through a fixed battle with other events attempting to gain place in the agenda. The media battle with these news alternatives by creating "pseudo-crises" and "pseudo-novelties."
Media's characteristics as a communication tool further impact people's perception of their own ideas in regard to the public opinion. According to Noelle-Neumann, the media are a "one-sided, indirect, public form of communication, contrasting threefold with the near natural form of human communication, the conversation." When an issue hits the media and proves salient, a dominant ingredient of view ordinarily emerges. These characteristics of the media in particular further overwhelm one's individual ideas.
While some media communication theories assume a passive audience, such as the Hypodermic Needle model, the spiral model assumes an active audience "who consumes media products in the context of their personal and social goals." knowledge "gained from the mass media may ad ammunition for people to express their opinions and advertisement a rationale for their own stance." Ho et al. point out that "among individuals who paid high amount of media attention, those who have a low fear of isolation were significantly more likely to offer a rationale for their own opinion than were those who have a high fear of isolation."
Noelle-Neuman regards media central to the formulation of the Spiral of Silence Theory, whereas some scholars argue whether the dominant idea in one's social environment overwhelms the dominant idea that mediaas the perceived social norm. Some empirical research align with this perspective; suggesting that the "micro-climate" of an individual overwhelms the effects of the media. Other articles furtherthat talking with others is the primary way of apprehension the opinion climate.
Social Media has contributed to the Spiral of Silence Theory. Researchers, Chaudhry & Gruzd 2019 found that social media actually weakens this theory. This theory suggests that the minority are uncomfortable expressing their opinions because of the fear of isolation, but, "the vocal minority are comfortable expressing unpopular views, questioning the explanatory power to direct or determine of this popular theory in the online context."
The Spiral of Silence Theory rests on perception as individuals constantly scan their environment to assess the climate to possibly find the dominant point of view. Perception things because these opinions influence an individual's behavior and attitudes. How can individuals do this? Sherif 1967 believes individuals use managers of point of reference based on past experience -- "social environment as a frame of source for interpreting new information has important implications for public opinion research." According to Gestalt psychology, when individuals are presented with information with "an appropriate frame of reference by which to interpret it" they are uncomfortable in the social environment e.g. behavioral influence.