The Spiral of Silence: Staying Quiet Due to the Fear of Rejection

  The spiral of silence defines behavior in which someone (a minority) chooses to keep quiet about their opinion for fear of reprisals from the dominant group (the majority). If you think about it, this social phenomenon is something that everyone experiences at some time or another. It’s the buried restlessness you feel when perceiving that your point of view differs from that assumed by the rest of your environment. Hans Christian Andersen left us a curious fable that perfectly explains this theory. Two weavers appear before a powerful emperor and his court. They explain that they make the most…