The nature of tolerance and the social circumstances in which it emerges

Abstract

Tolerance entails acceptance of the very things one disagrees with, disapproves of or dislikes. Tolerance can be seen as ‘a flawed virtue’ because it concerns acceptance of the differences between others and ourselves that we would rather fight, ignore, or overcome. However ‘flawed’ a virtue it may be, tolerance may be the only thing that stands between peaceful coexistence and violent intergroup conflict. This makes tolerance a topic of great scientific as well as practical importance. While scholars have systematically studied political (in)tolerance and the closely related subject of prejudice for over half a century now, many conceptual and empirical puzzles remain unsolved. This may well reflect the complex nature of tolerance and the dilemmas which are intrinsic to the idea of toleration. In this article an examination of the paradoxical nature of tolerance is followed by a review of the academic literature and empirical findings on (political) tolerance and its primary sources. To conclude, future challenges for tolerance research are outlined. It is argued that tolerance research would benefit from a stronger interdisciplinary approach: an intergroup relations perspective on tolerance would enhance our understanding of the nature of tolerance and the social circumstances in which it emerges.