People voice political opinions privately but suppress them in group settings.

Evidence

Activists often met this pressure half-way, by sounding much less publicly minded in public than they sounded in private, using that Mom discourse that I described in chapter 1. Thus, activists themselves played their part in the cycle of political evaporation: they relished publicly minded conversations in their informal gathering — backstage — but rarely found a ”place” for it in public — frontstage. And when activists did manage to squeeze publicly minded ideas into the constricted public sphere, officials and reporters ignored them, anyway; the cycle of political evaporation continued. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1205 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Advocates of democracy have long looked to groups that work on small, local issues as potential schools for wider political concern. Volunteers shared faith in this ideal of civic participation, but in practice, paradoxically, maintaining this hope and faith meant curtailing political discussion: members sounded less publicly minded and less politically creative in groups than they sounded individually. … But here, participants did some of the work of restricting communication themselves: they assumed that talking about politics would only sap vigor from the healthy tasks which volunteer groups realistically could set for themselves, and it would intimidate new members. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 192 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

In the context of speaking to the press, she ”forgot” what she said about ”the future generations.” She also forgot what she and others had been saying in meetings for over a year, that the government and corporations should invest in research to prevent the production of toxic waste. She forgot that the local group was part of a loose national network whose project was to change industrial policies. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 88 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Activists suppress their systemic political analyses when speaking publicly. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 88; Volunteer groups suppress political talk even though members privately care — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 192; People voice fearful knowledge privately but suppress it in public interview settings. — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 151 (+19 more)

Broader Connections

• Activists suppress their systemic political analyses when speaking publicly. #exemplifies (0.90) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 88
• Volunteer groups suppress political talk even though members privately care #exemplifies (0.90) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 192
• Activists sound less publicly minded in public than in private #exemplifies (0.90) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1205
• People voice fearful knowledge privately but suppress it in public interview settings. #exemplifies (0.85) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 151
• Volunteers suppress political talk because it would sink their feeling of empowerment #exemplifies (0.85)
• Activists switch to depoliticized language when speaking in public. #exemplifies (0.85) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 118
• A diversity of listeners enables speakers to voice public-spirited ideas they otherwise suppress #qualifies (0.80) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1472
• Group interviews can surface opinions suppressed in individual questioning #qualifies (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1869
• Suppressing unpopular speech also silences the unconventional ideas society needs #expands (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1067