The Self-Censoring Majority: How Political Identity and Ideology Impacts Willingness to Self-Censor and Fear of Isolation in the United States

Abstract

The spiral of silence theory suggests that those who hold a contrary opinion to the majority tend to remain silent; however, social media may be flipping this upside down. The majority may remain silent to the hardcore vocal minority, implying a self-censoring majority. This study examines the spiral of silence theory, and the effect of political identity and ideology has on the willingness to self-censor and the fear of isolation with social media use. Through a survey distributed through a Qualtrics panel to participants that mirror the US census ( N = 1,047), this study investigates political identity and ideology by examining self-censorship and fear of isolation of social media users. Results identify significant differences with self-censorship and identity politics between strong conservatives and liberals in comparison to the majority in the middle. Differing political ideologies seem to have an impact on fear of isolation between democrats and conservatives.