Book contents
- Qualitative Studies of Silence
- Qualitative Studies of Silence
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: A Turn to Silence
- 1 Literal and Metaphorical Silences in Rhetoric: Examples from the Celebration of the 1974 Revolution in the Portuguese Parliament
- 2 Seeing Silenced Agendas in Medical Interaction: A Conversation Analytic Case Study
- 3 Listening to the Sound of Silence: Methodological Reflections on Studying the Unsaid
- 4 Social Silences: Conducting Ethnographic Research on Racism in the Americas
- 5 Intimate Silences and Inequality: Noticing the Unsaid through Triangulation
- 6 Silence in the Court: Moral Exclusion at the Intersection of Disability, Race, Sexuality, and Methodology
- 7 Silencing Self and Other through Autobiographical Narratives
- 8 Gendering the Unsaid and the Unsayable
- 9 The Language Ideology of Silence and Silencing in Public Discourse
- 10 Propaganda by Omission: The Case of Topical Silence
- 11 Silencing Whistleblowers
- 12 Between Sound and Silence: The Inaudible and the Unsayable in the History of the First World War
- 13 Affect and the Unsaid: Silences, Impasses, and Testimonies to Trauma
- 14 The Unsaid and the Unheard
- 15 Conclusion: Topographies of the Said and Unsaid
- Index
- References
11 - Silencing Whistleblowers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 June 2019
Book contents
- Qualitative Studies of Silence
- Qualitative Studies of Silence
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: A Turn to Silence
- 1 Literal and Metaphorical Silences in Rhetoric: Examples from the Celebration of the 1974 Revolution in the Portuguese Parliament
- 2 Seeing Silenced Agendas in Medical Interaction: A Conversation Analytic Case Study
- 3 Listening to the Sound of Silence: Methodological Reflections on Studying the Unsaid
- 4 Social Silences: Conducting Ethnographic Research on Racism in the Americas
- 5 Intimate Silences and Inequality: Noticing the Unsaid through Triangulation
- 6 Silence in the Court: Moral Exclusion at the Intersection of Disability, Race, Sexuality, and Methodology
- 7 Silencing Self and Other through Autobiographical Narratives
- 8 Gendering the Unsaid and the Unsayable
- 9 The Language Ideology of Silence and Silencing in Public Discourse
- 10 Propaganda by Omission: The Case of Topical Silence
- 11 Silencing Whistleblowers
- 12 Between Sound and Silence: The Inaudible and the Unsayable in the History of the First World War
- 13 Affect and the Unsaid: Silences, Impasses, and Testimonies to Trauma
- 14 The Unsaid and the Unheard
- 15 Conclusion: Topographies of the Said and Unsaid
- Index
- References
Summary
Whistleblowers speak out about illegal or unethical actions at work. One of most striking aspects of listening to whistleblowers is how they feel silenced. As one whistleblower put it, "They wouldn't talk about it, and they wouldn't talk about not talking about it." Silence does not just mean the absence of speech. Silence means that one party to the dialogue refuses to engage the other. Whistleblowers try to talk about what the organization is doing. Their bosses will only talk about the whistleblowers and their problems. "Nuts and sluts" is the name given to this strategy by experienced whistleblowers, in which the goal of the organization is to turn the issue into one of the mental health or morality of the whistleblower. What is unsaid, what cannot be spoken, is almost always the moral and ideological corruption of the organization. Corruption means the loss of an organization's mission. Society is a conspiracy of silence against those who cross an invisible boundary that most of us will not recognize, for to do so would establish our willingness to do almost anything to belong.
Keywords
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- Information
- Qualitative Studies of SilenceThe Unsaid as Social Action, pp. 206 - 222Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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