Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann
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Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann | |
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Great Cross of Merit (1976), Alexander Rüstow Medal (1978), Baden-Württemberg's Medal of Merit (1990), Helen Dinerman Award (issued by WAPOR; 1990), Gerhard Löwenthal Honor Award (issued by Junge Freiheit; 2006) | |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Political science |
Doctoral advisor | Emil Dovifat |
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (19 December 1916 – 25 March 2010) was a German
Biography
Elisabeth Noelle was born to Ernst and Eve Noelle in 1916 in the Villa Noelle
In 1940 she received her Ph.D. in Berlin/Germany, concentrating on public opinion research in the USA.
In 1940 she briefly worked for the
In 1947 she and her first husband
From 1964 to 1983 she held a professorate at the
Noelle-Neumann was the president of the World Association for Public Opinion Research from 1978 to 1980 and worked as a guest professor at the University of Chicago from 1978 to 1991.
Important work
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann coined the term spiral of silence.This theory explains how people's opinions change or go unspoken in order to fit in with popular ideologies and avoid being singled out for holding opposing Ideologies. Due to the lack of human agency and rationality, which the theory does not account for, this theory has received mixed reviews. The top of the spiral is those who express their opinions and thoughts, which is explained by the spiral of silence. In other words, exercise your right to free speech. Those who are unwilling to speak out for fear of being isolated or ostracised are at the bottom of the spiral.[7]
Allegations of anti-Semitism
In 1991, Leo Bogart criticized Noelle-Neumann, accusing her of anti-Semitic passages in her dissertation and articles she wrote for Nazi newspapers. As a young woman, she had "superb credentials as an activist and leader" of Nazi youth and students' organizations, he wrote.[8] In fact, when she published her 1940 dissertation in Germany, entitled "Opinion and mass research in the USA", having spent a year at the University of Missouri researching George Gallup's methodology, Joseph Goebbels called the 24-year-old woman as an adjutant and intended her to build up, for the ministry of propaganda, Germany's first public opinion research organization. She declined, having fallen ill, which angered Goebbels; she later became a newspaper journalist with Nazi publications where she wrote some articles on Jewish influence over U.S. news and elite opinion.
Bogart's article appeared just weeks before Noelle-Neumann took up a visiting position in the Political Science Department at the
In private letters and in written responses, Noelle-Neumann acknowledged being in a Nazi student organization but denied being a Nazi. "I am anguished by the suffering of Jews in Nazi Germany," she wrote.[18] Bogart, Mearsheimer and others remained dissatisfied with her response.[19]
Noelle-Neumann completed her visiting position in Chicago in mid-December 1991 and returned to Germany. When some University of Chicago students learned that she was to return there on 13 March 1992, they called a rally to protest against her return.
Several years later, Noelle-Neumann's Nazi connection came under scrutiny from another American academic,[23] but she never explicitly apologized for her past.[24] Interviewed on the subject in 1997, she said, "I did my duty and would do my duty again in a second life. I'd even say I was proud of what I did back then because I opposed the Nazis by working from within."[25]
John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago wrote in The New York Times on 16 December 1991:
"She has admitted she was not hostile to the Nazis before 1940. She says she was anti-Nazi after 1940, but has produced no evidence that she criticized the Nazis then. She wrote anti-Semitic words in 1938–41, and there is no evidence she was compelled to write them. Queried on her anti-Semitic writings, she told me: "I have never written anything in my life that I did not believe to be true."
Personal life
She was married to the
In an interview in the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Noelle-Neumann said that while holding a scientific point of view, she also believed in angels and predestination.[28]
Awards
- Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1976)[29]
- Alexander Rüstow Medal (1978)[30]
- Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg (1990)[31]
- Helen Dinerman Award (issued by WAPOR; 1990)[30]
- Gerhard Löwenthal Prize, honorary prize (issued by Junge Freiheit; 2006)[30]
References
- ^ "Villa Noelle, Baudenkmal". 14 December 2016.
- ^ a b "Elisabeth Noelle Neumann: Pioneer of public-opinion polling and market". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ^ Markus Clauer: Zwischen Prognose und Macht. Zum Tode von Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. In: Die Rheinpfalz. 26 March 2010.
- ^ "24 Mädels beim Führer". Die Bewegung. München, Nr. 25, 1937 Sondernr. Beilage: 15. June 1937.
- ISBN 978-3-11-044478-0.
- ^ University of Missouri (1937). Elizabeth Noelle, Special Student and Student of Journalism?.
- ISBN 978-0-203-12500-7, retrieved 28 February 2022
- ^ Leo Bogart, "The Pollster & the Nazis," Commentary, August 1991, pp. 47–49.
- ^ Douglas Wertheimer, "Noelle-Neumann cancels U of C talk," Chicago Jewish Star, 27 March 1992, p. 3.
- Chicago Maroon, 25 October 1991, p. 1; Andrea Wood, "Professors challenge Noelle-Neumann," Chicago Maroon, 1 November 1991, p. 1; "Chicago Professor Is Linked to Anti-Semitic Past," The New York Times, 28 November 1991; Associated Press, "U.C. prof’s Nazi-era writings bring call for a wider apology," Chicago Sun-Times, 30 November 1991, p. 14.
- ^ Ethan Putterman, "U of C silence a 'moral failure,'" Chicago Maroon, 3 December 1991; Jacob Dallal, "Noelle-Neumann’s explanations troubling," Chicago Maroon, 1 November 1991; Shoshannah Cohen, "Charges against professor draw little student response," Hyde Park Herald, 11 December 1991, p. 1; Douglas Wertheimer, "Controversy surrounds U of C prof. accused of denying Nazi past," Chicago Jewish Star, 15 November 1991, p. 1.
- ^ Douglas Wertheimer, "Jewish, university groups are silent on prof. at U of C with alleged Nazi past," Chicago Jewish Star, 20 December 1991, p. 1; students on campus could be engaged in Holocaust issues: Douglas Wertheimer, "'Maroon' rejects Holocaust denier's ad," Chicago Jewish Star, 27 March 1992, p. 2.
- ^ Letter, D. Wertheimer, "Old News," Chicago Reader, 10 January 1992, section 1, page 2; Michael Miner response, p. 34.
- ^ D. Wertheimer, Chicago Jewish Star, 15 November 1991, p. 2.
- ^ Douglas Wertheimer, "Jewish, university groups are silent on prof. at U of C with alleged Nazi past," Chicago Jewish Star, 20 December 1991, p. 19
- ^ John J. Mearsheimer, "Noelle-Neumann was a willing anti-Semite," Chicago Maroon, 12 November 1991, pp. 17–18.
- ^ John J. Mearsheimer, quoted in Chicago Jewish Star, 15 November 1991, p. 2.
- ^ Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, "Accused Professor Was Not a Nazi," The New York Times, 14 December 1991, p. 14; Noelle-Neumann, letter, Commentary, January 1992, pp. 9–15; D. Wertheimer, "Noelle-Neumann and her critics spar in print," Chicago Jewish Star, 17 January 1992, p. 2.
- Stephen M. Walt); Leo Bogart, "Professor's Own Nazi Past Accuses Her,"The New York Times, 28 December 1991, p. 12; Bogart, letter, Commentary, January 1992, pp. 17–18; Editorial, "The Professor's Silence," Chicago Jewish Star, 15 November 1991, p. 4; Editorial, "Lest we remember," Chicago Jewish Star, 20 December 1991, p. 4.
- ^ Ethan Putterman and Michael Kochin, letter, "Noelle-Neumann rally," Chicago Maroon, 10 March 1992, p. 21; D. Wertheimer, "Student protest planned with return of Noelle-Neumann to the U of C," Chicago Jewish Star, 13 March 1992, p. 1.
- ^ Douglas Wertheimer, "Noelle-Neumann cancels U of C talk," Chicago Jewish Star, 27 March 1992, p. 3.
- ^ Julia Angwin, "Noelle-Neumann cancels planned visit," Chicago Maroon, 3 April 1992, p. 9.
- William H. Honan, "U.S. Professor's Criticism of German Scholar's Work Stirs Controversy,"The New York Times, 27 August 1997, p. A13. Christopher Simpson, the American professor, claimed that Noelle-Neumann's Spiral of Silence was riddled with totalitarian ideology.
- ^ Editorial, "Silent to the end," Chicago Jewish Star, 27 August 2010, p. 4.
- William H. Honan, "U.S. Professor's Criticism of German Scholar's Work Stirs Controversy," The New York Times, 27 August 1997, p. A13.
- ^ "MEINUNGSFORSCHERIN DES ALLENSBACH-INSTITUTS: Noelle-Neumann mit 93 Jahren gestorben". Die Tageszeitung: Taz (in German). 26 March 2010. p. 02. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "Klage eines Ehepaars: Verfassungsgericht bestätigt Verbot von Dreifachnamen". Der Spiegel (in German). 5 May 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ „Ich habe die Engel gesehen" (i.e. "I beheld the angels.")
- ^ "Allensbach-Gründerin Noelle-Neumann ist tot". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ S2CID 241995946.
- ^ Fricke, Dr. Thomas. "Findbuch Q 2/50: Fotojournalistisches Werk von Burghard Hüdig (* 1933 + 2020) - Strukturansicht". Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Abt. Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (in German). Retrieved 7 April 2022.
Further reading
- Esther Priwer: Nazi exchange students at the University of Missouri In: The Menorah Journal, 1938, vol. 26, issue 3, Page 353-361
- Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann as Nazi propagandist in US newspapers, 1938
External links
- The Noelle-Neumann Archive (contemporary documents, newspaper clippings and other archive resources about Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann)