IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/apsrev/v73y1979i03p781-794_16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Alternative Conceptualization of Political Tolerance: Illusory Increases 1950s–1970s

Author

Listed:
  • Sullivan, John L.
  • Piereson, James
  • Marcus, George E.

Abstract

This article proposes an alternative conceptualization of political tolerance, a new measurement strategy consistent with that conceptualization, and some new findings based upon this measurement strategy. Briefly put, we argue that tolerance presumes a political objection to a group or to an idea, and if such an objection does not arise, neither does the problem of tolerance. Working from this understanding, we argue that previous efforts to measure tolerance have failed because they have asked respondents about groups preselected by the investigators. Those groups selected as points of reference in measuring tolerance have generally been of a leftist persuasion. Our measurement strategy allowed respondents themselves to select a political group to which they were strongly opposed. They were then asked a series of questions testing the extent to which they were prepared to extend procedural claims to these self-selected targets. Using this approach, we found little change between the 1950s and the 1970s in levels of tolerance in the United States, a result that contradicts much recent research on the problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Sullivan, John L. & Piereson, James & Marcus, George E., 1979. "An Alternative Conceptualization of Political Tolerance: Illusory Increases 1950s–1970s," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(3), pages 781-794, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:73:y:1979:i:03:p:781-794_16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055400162781/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Allison Harell, 2010. "Political Tolerance, Racist Speech, and the Influence of Social Networks," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(3), pages 724-740, September.
    2. Vivika Halapuu & Tiiu Paas & Tiit Tammaru, 2013. "Is institutional trust related to the attitudes towards immigrants in Europe? A study of majority and minority population," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013014, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    3. Mikael Hjerm & Maureen A. Eger & Andrea Bohman & Filip Fors Connolly, 2020. "A New Approach to the Study of Tolerance: Conceptualizing and Measuring Acceptance, Respect, and Appreciation of Difference," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 897-919, February.
    4. Çera Edmond & Sinamati Arta, 2017. "Determinants of Corruption Perception in a Transition Country: Case of Albania," Baltic Journal of Real Estate Economics and Construction Management, Sciendo, vol. 5(1), pages 177-185, November.
    5. April K. Clark & Michael Clark & Marie A. Eisenstein, 2014. "Stability and Change," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(1), pages 21582440145, March.
    6. T. Y. Wang & Lu‐huei Chen, 2008. "Political Tolerance in Taiwan: Democratic Elitism in a Polity Under Threat," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 89(3), pages 780-801, September.
    7. Diana C. Mutz, 2023. "Freedom of Speech in the Post-Floyd Era: Public Support for Political Tolerance," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 708(1), pages 184-205, July.
    8. Sean T. Stevens & Lee Jussim & Nathan Honeycutt, 2020. "Scholarship Suppression: Theoretical Perspectives and Emerging Trends," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, October.
    9. Alan Arwine & Lawrence Mayer, 2014. "Tolerance and the Politics of Identity in the European Union," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(3), pages 669-681, September.
    10. Robert Postic & Elizabeth Prough, 2014. "That’s Gay! Gay as a Slur Among College Students," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(4), pages 21582440145, November.
    11. Robert Andersen & Tina Fetner, 2008. "Economic Inequality and Intolerance: Attitudes toward Homosexuality in 35 Democracies," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(4), pages 942-958, October.
    12. Francis Lee, 2014. "“Tolerated One Way but Not the Other”: Levels and Determinants of Social and Political Tolerance in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 711-727, September.
    13. Faniko, Klea & Lorenzi-Cioldi, Fabio & Buschini, Fabrice, 2010. "Education, meritocracy and opinions toward affirmative action targeted at women in Albania," SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 13(4), pages 565-577.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:73:y:1979:i:03:p:781-794_16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/psr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.