Synopses & Reviews
How do citizens faced with a complex variety of considerations decide whether or not to tolerate extremist groups? Relying on several survey-experiments, the authors identify and compare the impact on decision making of contemporary information, long-standing predispositions, and enduring values and beliefs. People react most strongly to data about a group's violations of behavioral norms and the implications for democracy of the group's actions. The authors conclude that democratic citizens should have a strong baseline of tolerance yet be attentive to and thoughtful about current information.
Review
"The authors have excelled in providing a framework that effectively synthesizes and gives order to disparate perspectives on tolerance judgments." Public Opinion Quarterly"...an entirely innovative approach to understanding the dynamics of political intolerance....None who care about public opinion and democracy can afford to ignore this most important book." American Politics
Synopsis
'This book reports the results of a series of well thought out and well executed studies of the determinants of political tolerance. The results add to our understanding of the factors--from information to personality--that lead people to be tolerant or intolerant. This is a major contribution to the literature on intolerance and to the study of political psychology more generally.' - Stanley Feldman, State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Synopsis
How do citizens faced with a complex variety of considerations decide whether or not to tolerate extremist groups? Relying on several survey-experiments, the authors identify and compare the impact on decision making of contemporary information, long-standing predispositions, and enduring values and beliefs. People react most strongly to data about a group's violations of behavioral norms and the implications for democracy of the group's actions. The authors conclude that democratic citizens should have a strong baseline of tolerance yet be attentive to and thoughtful about current information.
Synopsis
How do citizens faced with a complex variety of choices decide whether or not to tolerate extremist groups? Relying on several survey-experiments, this text compares the impact on decision making of contemporary information, long-standing predispositions, and enduring values and beliefs.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-283) and index.
Table of Contents
Preface: Political tolerance and democratic life; Part I. Theoretical Background and Overview: 1. Political tolerance and democratic practice; 2. Antecedent considerations and contemporary information; 3. Thinking and mood; Part II. Contemporary Information and Political Tolerance Judgments: 4. Tolerance judgments and contemporary information -The basic studies; Appendix 4A: The basic experiments -manipulation checks; Part III. Refining the Model - The Role of Antecedent Conserations as Individual Differences: 5. Threat and political tolerance; 6. Democratic values as standing decisions and contemporary information; 7. Source credibility, political knowledge and animus in making tolerance judgments - the Texas experiment; 8. Individual differences: The influence of personality; Part IV. Implications and Conclusions: 9. Intensity, motivations, and behavioral intentions; 10. Human nature and political tolerance; Appendices; Bibliography.