Talking About Genetically Modified (GM) Foods in South Korea: The Role of the Internet in the Spiral of Silence Process

Abstract

Using the issue of genetically modified foods, this study examines how the Internet may affect the spiral of silence phenomenon in South Korea. More specifically, we explore whether the Internet has created a social environment, where people can exchange opinions more freely without being fearful of social isolation. Analyzing data from an online survey, we first examine whether the Internet can play a role as a source of information, from which people assess the climates of public opinion. Also examined is whether the opinions of netizens can comprise another form of opinion climate, exerting pressure on one's

Public Opinion As a Source of Deinstitutionalization: A “Spiral of Silence” Approach

“…The emergent role of social media, through which users themselves partially create content ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 beliefs (Schulz & Roessler, 2012) although they are still subject to the fear of being in the minority, even in their online expression (Kim, Kim & Oh, 2014). We assume the climate of opinion and its impact on behaviors does not affect media to the extent it influences the causal mechanisms we unveil.…”

“…The emergent role of social media, through which users themselves partially create content (Burns, 2008), represents an interesting case. On the other hand, whenever possible individuals tend to seek media sources that reflect their own beliefs (Schulz & Roessler, 2012) although they are still subject to the fear of being in the minority, even in their online expression (Kim, Kim & Oh, 2014). Organizations find it difficult to exert control on such media (Pallas, Strannegård & Jonsson, 2014), and those media become a less biased source of information and more adequately reflects public opinion.…”

Spiral of Silence on Social Media: Study on Political Posting in Indonesia

“…As shown through the research model that we proposed ( Figure 1), it can be explained that we put: The Intimate Social Network Attachment in Social Media [2] ;Fear Is Isolated in Social Media [5] Perception of the Diversity of Political Opinions in Social Media [2];and Perceptions of Future Political Opinion Trends in Social Media [4] as independent variables in this study. Meanwhile, for the concept of Willingness to Conduct Self Censorship in Social Media [2] we put it into two positions, namely as the dependent variable in Sub Structure I regression testing, and as an independent variable in Sub Structure II regression testing.…”

“…In its development, found several factors forming the spiral effect in the online world that are different from the classical studies. Like research conducted by [5] where the feeling of atakut will experience social isolation is divided into two parts, namely the fear of experiencing isolation in the real world and in cyberspace, or involving a variable willingness to self-censor as done by Kwon [2] So, how can the spiral of silence effect form on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Line, and Whatsapp? Referring to several previous studies that have been summarized, we found that there are several concepts that play an important role in shaping the spiral effect on social media.…”

“…H2: The attachment of an intimate social network to someone who is connected on social media influences the activity of posting one's politics on social media [2]. H3: Fear of experiencing isolation on social media affects one's willingness to self-censor social media [5]. H4: Fear of experiencing isolation on social media influences the activity of posting one's politics on social media [2].…”