ABSTRACT
This text represents the edited and slightly shortened English version of Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's inaugural lecture at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz on November 9, 1965. The translation has been supplied by John Fosberry. In the German academic system, newly appointed full professors are invited to give an inaugural lecture to a wider audience of the university presenting their main research and teaching agenda. Noelle-Neumann was appointed for the newly founded chair of communication (in German “Publizistik”) the previous year after having taught for four years as an adjunct professor at the Free University Berlin. The text “Public Opinion and Social Control” is her first comprehensive formulation of ideas that later found their way into her socio-psychological theory of public opinion. So far it has been only published in German (Noelle, 1966). The text is published here with the permission of Noelle-Neumann's heir Dr. Ralph Erich Schmidt. Omissions from the original text are indicated by: …
