CHAPTER: Small Group Conversations

Social Silencing A phenomenon where people don’t speak up for fear of social exclusion

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There are many reasons why people do not speak up. Social silencing is one of them.

The spiral of silence or social silencing is a phenomenon where people who think they hold a minority opinion don’t speak up for fear of social exclusion.

This silencing not only manifests itself in small group conversations but in one-to-one conversations, meetings and more broadly in social media.

In order to speak up, people need to feel psychologically safe.

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2 thoughts on “Social Silencing A phenomenon where people don’t speak up for fear of social exclusion”

  1. I am enjoying the content and many of the ideas; but then getting a bit frustrated by the brevity of each post. Being so entrenched in the traditions of linear content, books reports etc, may be the cause of the problem…… also it is of course a work on progress so I am presuming that many of the posts will be longer as things develop further. But already lots of interesting themes and resources to follow and ideas to expand. Well done David….

    1. Yes you are right Sheila, many of the posts like the one above are “stubs” – just place holders for me to write in at a future date. And virtually every single post will be expanded on. Just need a tad more time in the day LOL

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