People hedge civic language where it feels dangerous or powerless

Evidence

If volunteers and activists consistently sounded more public-spirited in backstage'' contexts, and more self-interested in more public situations, then they did not simply lack the language of civic obligation and solidarity that Bellah, Ignatie¡, Wolfe, and Wuthnow describe; they lacked it only in some situations. Volunteers lacked the language of solidarity when that language seemed dangerous, when the language of solidarity seemed poised to threaten solidarity itself, when speaking without already possessing the power at hand” seemed to be “just rhetoric.” The language protected a faith in the democratic process, given citizens’ intuited powerlessness, their emotion rules, as does their low valuation of public speech itself. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 147

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Erving Goffman’s frontstage/backstage dramaturgy and to Hochschild’s emotional labor — the situation-dependence of expressed values echoes both. — connects to: Activists switch to depoliticized language when speaking in public. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 118; Some suffering resists articulation when public dialogue is skewed; Political language weaponizes selective concepts to serve power. (+7 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The idea that the language of solidarity is suppressed precisely because it could threaten solidarity is a generative inversion worth sitting with — speech acts read as dangerous when speakers lack institutional power behind them.
• corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 147

Related

• Activists switch to depoliticized language when speaking in public. (similarity 0.86)
• Believing public talk is powerless makes volunteers feel powerless. (similarity 0.83)
• Civic speech style varies with audience rather than with underlying beliefs (similarity 0.83)
• Volunteers suppress political talk because it would sink their feeling of empowerment (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Power-laden words constrain how and whether people can think certain thoughts. #corroborates (0.85)
• Political language weaponizes selective concepts to serve power. #corroborates (0.78)
• Some suffering resists articulation when public dialogue is skewed #qualifies (0.75)
• Euphemisms numb conscience while convoluted language obscures harm #expands (0.72)