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On the Conceptualization and Measurement of Political Tolerance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1982

James L. Gibson  and
Richard D. Bingham
James L. Gibson
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Richard D. Bingham
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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Abstract

Research on political tolerance has made substantial progress in recent years by improving the measures used to gauge public opinion. Much attention has been devoted to developing indicators that control for group affect. Controls for activity affect have not been pursued as vigorously. Indeed, much of the progress has been along the lines of specifying tolerance for unpopular political minorities rather than tolerance for unorthodox or threatening political activities. More generally, tolerance research has not been sensitive to the variety of contextual factors that determine citizen attitudes in civil-liberties disputes.

A new approach to measuring political tolerance is presented in this article. The measures developed in this approach disaggregate the traditional measures of tolerance (such as Stouffer's (1955) support for “a communist making a speech in your community”). In particular, scales measuring support for freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of political association are presented. As multiple-indicator measures posing conflicts among values, these scales are related to traditional tolerance measures. However, because they reflect the complexity and conflict associated with actual civil-liberties disputes, they will no doubt serve as better predictors of opinions and behaviors in actual disputes.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 76 , Issue 3 , September 1982 , pp. 603 - 620
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1982

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