Self-censorship: Emerging themes and remaining questions.

The various chapters of the present volume demonstrate that self-censorship is prevalent in numerous social spheres, ranging from the narrow domain of the family to the broad domain of entire societies and their institutions, such as the mass media, the education system, and the military. Given the scope of this phenomenon, one would expect it to generate considerable interest among scholars and researchers. Yet, systematic research into self-censorship has been scarce. The present volume collects and integrates studies of self-censorship in a variety of spheres, hoping to stimulate further research on the topic. In this chapter, I discuss several general themes that emerge from the collection of chapters and can be further explored in future studies. I begin by addressing the question of why research on self-censorship has been scarce despite the prevalence of the phenomenon. In the next section, I discuss the implications of self-censorship in different spheres, focusing on the implications for individuals versus collectives and on the role of gatekeepers. In the last section I discuss the broader context in which self-censorship is more or less likely to appear.