The spiral of silence : public opinion, our social skin /
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann.
- 2nd ed.
- Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, c1993.
- 269 p. : ill. b&w ; 22 cm.
Includes bibliography (p. 245-261) and index.
1. The hypothesis of silence -- 2. Testing with survey research -- 3. Fear of isolation as a motive -- 4. Public opinion: what is it? -- 5. The law of opinion: John Locke -- 6. Government rests on opinion: David Hume, James Madison -- 7. Launching the term "public opinion": Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- 8. Public opinion as tiranny: Alexis de Tocqueville -- 9. The concept of "social control" is formed and the concept of "public opinion" is shattered -- 10. The howling chorus of wolves -- 11. Public opinion among African and Pacific tribes -- 12. Storming the Bastille: public opinion and mass psychology. -- 13. Fashion is public opinion -- 14. The pillory -- 15. The law and public opinion -- 16. Public opinion creates integration -- 17. Avant-garde, heretics and outsiders: challenging public opinion -- 18. The stereotype as a vehicle for spreading public opinion: Walter Lippman -- 19. Public opinion selects the issues: Niklas Luhmann -- 20. The journalist's privilege: conferring public attention -- 21. Public opinion has two sources: one, the mass media -- 22. The dual climate of public opinion -- 23. The articulation function: those whose point of view is not represented by the media are effectively mute -- 24. Vox populi-vox dei -- 25. New discoveries -- 26. Toward a theory of public opinion -- 27. The manifest and latent functions of public opinion: a summary.
Examines public opinion as a form of social control in which individuals, almost instinctively sensing the opinions of those around them, shape their behavior to prevailing attitudes about what is acceptable.