A Rethinking On "Spiral Of Silence" In Chinese Internet Environment

The theory of “Spiral of Silence”, as the great scripture in communicationstudies, has been constantly challenged and questioned for its scope of application,because the universality and anonymity of the Internet make it difficult to applypressure on Internet users, the general public are able to speak freely in the virtual space,and are no longer afraid of being isolated, so this theory has ceased to exist in theInternet environment.Generally speaking, the communication subjects, propagationmodes, communication environment as well as the issues in China are different fromthose in Neumann’s. China has a special social background, with an accumulation ofrealistic contradiction, an internal inhibition of underlying sentiment, and an obstructedchannel of political participation. When it comes to sensitive events such as the officials,the police, even the rich, public opinions online tend to follow the logic of socialprotests rather than the rules of silence.This thesis takes the cases of “Tianyi Li”and “Junfeng Xia”for example，paysattention to the relevant comments from forums blogs, as well as micro-blogging,especially Tianya Forum and Sina Weibo. By analyzing the representative comments ofthese samples, we can grasp the case from the overall situation as well as its features onthe Internet. That is；the revolutionizing mode of transmission, the netizens’ beingnon-rational, various transmission route as diversified content labelingTo some degree, the views on public affairs may show the spiral of silence fromsome aspects or in some areas, but in the final analysis，they are just serving as thestrategies as well as the means of social struggles.