Recognising the Virtual and Real Causality of ‘Spiral-of-Silence’: Mapping the Silence in Echoes of Women Healthcare for Rural Bengal in India

Abstract

This study advances the acquaintance of the spiral of silence theory by evaluating the impact of new media on virtual behaviour motivation. It explores rural women’s willingness to express opinions on awkward issues like unwanted pregnancies and abortion in online and offline settings. It examines how the ideology submitted by the spiral of silence theory works in each location. Results of a survey among 198 samples suggest a possible correlation between speaking out online and the chance of expressing themselves in an authentic offline setting, and vice versa. Findings imply that a multivariate study will produce better regression outcomes to address further loopholes. Despite correlating, it has been found that extraneous variables entwined with social factors are causing disruptive results, which can be traced while thematically analysing the values. This investigation also establishes that fair knowledge sharing can result in managing health disasters for rural women. Indeed, conditional factors creating compulsions, such as family and societal pressure, should be managed and controlled during group interaction, or else it constructs the climate for the spiral of silence.