Civic speech style varies with audience rather than with underlying beliefs

Evidence

Like volunteers, activists sounded less public-spirited when speaking in public than in private, and their language-switching from one context to the next was even more extreme. For example, behind the scenes ^ and as the group developed, in meetings as well ^ members talked about government policies regarding toxic waste, but at demonstrations and other public arenas, they used the same close to home'' language that volunteers used. Someone who heard only their public speech might assume that activists simply lacked the language of solidarity,” but in fact, they spoke it quite £uently behind the scenes, and just lost some of their £uency in more public contexts. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 118

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Eliasoph’s core ‘close to home’ thesis and to Goffman’s front-stage/back-stage dramaturgy of behavior changing with audience. — connects to: Citizens express narrower ideas as their audience grows wider — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 32; Political expression is switched on and off by group context rather than individual belief — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 97; Genre form refracts rather than directly reflects political ideology — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 321 (+4 more)
• DEFINE: Illustrates what ‘language switching’ and ‘losing fluency’ in public-spirited speech mean analytically — speech fluency is audience-dependent, not a fixed competence.

Related

• Activists switch to depoliticized language when speaking in public. (similarity 0.89)
• Political expression is switched on and off by group context rather than individual belief (similarity 0.86)
• Citizens express narrower ideas as their audience grows wider (similarity 0.86)
• People hedge civic language where it feels dangerous or powerless (similarity 0.83)
• Public-spiritedness diminishes as expression moves from backstage to frontstage. (similarity 0.82)
• Public-spirited talk flourishes backstage, not in public spheres (similarity 0.82)
• Public speaking contexts actively shrink citizens’ circles of concern (similarity 0.81)
• A diversity of listeners enables speakers to voice public-spirited ideas they otherwise suppress (similarity 0.81)
• Political disengagement is socially produced in conversation, not just held in beliefs (similarity 0.80)
• Activists sound less publicly minded in public than in private (similarity 0.80)
• Believing public talk is powerless makes volunteers feel powerless. (similarity 0.80)
• Public speech styles are gendered as passionate Mom versus rational Expert (similarity 0.80)
• Activists suppress their systemic political analyses when speaking publicly. (similarity 0.79)
• People voice political opinions privately but suppress them in group settings. (similarity 0.79)
• Citizens express political ideas privately yet avoid public political engagement (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Activists switch to depoliticized language when speaking in public. #exemplifies (0.90) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 118
• People hedge civic language where it feels dangerous or powerless #qualifies (0.85) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 147
• Genre form refracts rather than directly reflects political ideology #expands (0.82) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 321
• A diversity of listeners enables speakers to voice public-spirited ideas they otherwise suppress #expands (0.80) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1472
• Public speech styles are gendered as passionate Mom versus rational Expert #exemplifies (0.78) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1425