What is Tolerance

Tolerance is the conscious decision to allow beliefs, behaviors, lifestyles, and practices that one may personally disagree with or disapprove of. It is characterized more by restraint and non-interference than by active support or opposition. Rather than involving strong positive or negative emotions, tolerance exists in a middle ground where individuals choose not to react against differences.

At one end of the spectrum, tolerance may involve respect, acceptance, and appreciation of diversity and individuality. At the other end, it can appear as indifference, avoidance, or disregard toward people who are perceived as different. The limits of tolerance are reached when certain behaviors or lifestyles are viewed as threats to social or moral values and are therefore considered unacceptable.

Tolerance plays an important role in supporting universal and individual rights and encouraging peaceful coexistence among diverse social groups. It helps create connections between communities and enables people from different backgrounds to interact and cooperate in everyday life.

                    Historical Development of Tolerance

During the Enlightenment, European and American philosophers promoted the idea of toleration based on the belief that all human beings are fundamentally equal regardless of their religious or moral beliefs. They argued that the beliefs and traditions of other cultures and civilizations deserved the same respect as Christianity. As a result, tolerance became a central value in the development of modern societies and modern political thought.

Although Europe gradually incorporated tolerance into its legal systems, the United States adopted these principles earlier. Religious tolerance was expressed in the Declaration of Independence and later protected through constitutional and institutional frameworks.

                      Tolerance and Democracy

Tolerance is essential for democracy because democracies can function only when people can freely and openly express different viewpoints and opinions without fear of being prohibited from participating in political processes. John Rawls’ book Political Liberalism (1996) explores the relationship between democratic pluralism and the plurality of „comprehensive doctrines“ - religious, philosophical, ideological, and ethical worldviews. He concludes that individuals and groups that support opposite views can achieve an “overlapping consensus” by applying the principles of justice as fairness, as it minimizes the possibility of conflict, as it (justice) remains neutral to those views while encouraging rational debate and tolerance, and allows everybody to pursue their interests and their version of the good life.

Samuel Stouffer’s study Communism, Conformity, and Civil Liberties (1955) found that many Americans were unwilling to grant civil liberties to unpopular left-wing groups, although community leaders tended to be more tolerant than the general public.

Later, John Sullivan, James Piereson, and George Marcus redefined political tolerance in Political Tolerance and American Democracy (1982) as the willingness to allow the expression of ideas and interests that one personally opposes. According to their view, true tolerance exists when people support the rights of groups they dislike or disagree with. To measure this, they introduced the “least-liked group” approach, asking respondents to identify the group they disliked most and whether they would still support that group’s civil liberties.

In The Civic Culture (1963), Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba argued that democracy depends on tolerance and moderate social ties rather than intense emotional or ideological divisions. They viewed tolerance as a key foundation of democratic civic culture.

In Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000), Robert Putnam argues that trust is a key element for civic and political engagement, not only between individuals but also between citizens and government. High levels of political trust support effective democracy, while widespread distrust can weaken social cohesion and institutional stability. Although Putnam acknowledges that tight-knit groups can sometimes foster exclusion or intolerance, he finds that active civic participation generally correlates with greater openness and tolerance.

                Individual Factors Affecting Tolerance

Individual factors influencing tolerance tend to be the same across different countries. Individual factors that support tolerant views are: support for democratic values, higher education, higher social status, younger age, and lower religiousness.   

Adorno’s book Authoritarian Personality (1950) linked authoritarian personality, insecurity, and dogmatism to intolerance of ‘‘others’’. This book was based on surveys and in-depth interviews of over two thousand respondents. The questions referred to the political and economic attitudes towards other ethnic groups, as well as the personal attitudes of the respondents. The theoretical part of the research used Freud's theory of personality development to connect the way of raising children, which includes physical punishment and instability of parental attention and love, with the development of an authoritarian personality structure. This type of upbringing produces children's aggression towards their parents, but this aggression is sublimated in adulthood and is directed at social groups that are perceived as weak or inferior, while at the same time, the person submits to authoritarian leaders, who unconsciously represent the parent figure. The consequence of this personality development is a weak ego, conformism to conventional social values, intolerance of ambivalence, cynicism, and a tendency towards superstition. To empirically measure the expression of this personality structure in individuals, the authors developed the so-called F scale (F is abbreviated from fascism because the premise was that this type of personality is prone to accept fascist values). Research has found that this type of personality is prevalent in all social groups and classes.

                Structural Factors Influencing Tolerance

Several structural factors encourage the development of tolerance in society. Stable and long-lasting democracies generally create conditions that support tolerant attitudes, while generalized trust between different ethnic and social groups helps promote acceptance and integration of minority communities.

In contrast, certain conditions can weaken tolerance and increase intolerance. These include social conflicts that threaten group identity, feelings of social instability or anomie, transitions from authoritarian to democratic systems, and perceptions that outsiders or “others” pose a threat to society.

                               Limits to Tolerance

Marcuse studies the limits of tolerance in his book A Critique of Pure Tolerance (1965). He believes that the liberal idea of ​​tolerance helps to reduce criticism of the existing society, because such tolerance requires the acceptance of oppressive discourse, and therefore, such oppressive and discriminatory speech should be limited in public discourse.

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