Observing the „spiral“ in the spiral of silence

Autor(en)

Jörg Matthes

Abstrakt

Time is of the utmost importance when designing studies to test the spiral of silence theory. The theory posits that individuals who feel they are in the majority become more dominant and louder over time, while the minority camp becomes increasingly silent. However, few studies have tested the dynamic nature of the theory. Therefore, the aims of this article are to revisit the role of time in spiral of silence research and to demonstrate how dynamic processes can be modeled with three-wave panel data. Using survey data on the topic of unemployment, the relationship between change in the opinion climate and change in opinion expression is estimated with a latent growth model. Findings confirm the dynamic processes predicted by the theory.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft

Journal

International Journal of Public Opinion Research

Band

27

Seiten

155-176

Anzahl der Seiten

22

ISSN

0954-2892

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edu032

Publikationsdatum

2015

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

508007 Kommunikationswissenschaft, 508014 Publizistik

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Sociology and Political Science

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/883eb344-7d06-4ef8-9891-c540b8c283f7