Chapter 5 Intolerance in America

Political extremes today

Media and activists portray America as divided into two hostile camps, but most Americans are not at the extremes.

Exhausted majority

Moderates who dislike polarization, support compromise, and feel ignored in extreme political debates.

Main trend in tolerance

Americans have become more politically tolerant over the past several decades

1954 political climate

Marked by McCarthyism, loyalty oaths, censorship, discrimination, and widespread intolerance.

Stouffer’s 1954 tolerance study

Found extremely low tolerance for communists, socialists, and atheists; few supported their rights to speak, teach, or publish.

Importance of tolerance

Tolerance of unpopular views is essential for democratic functioning and civil liberties.

Social modernization

Rising education, generational change, and minority empowerment increase tolerance.

Stouffer method

Measures tolerance toward specific groups (communists, atheists, socialists) via rights to speak, teach, and publish.

Content‑controlled method

Measures tolerance toward groups individuals personally dislike; developed to reduce ideological bias.

Expanded tolerance battery

Includes extremist groups on both left and right to avoid ideological skew.

GSS tolerance groups

Communists, atheists, homosexuals, militarists, racists.

Key finding from GSS

Tolerance increased for all five groups from 1976 to 2018

Most dramatic tolerance increase

Homosexuals (+30 overall), especially in allowing them to teach.

Least dramatic tolerance increase

Racists (+3 overall), but still slightly more tolerated over time.

Teaching tolerance trend

Allowing disliked groups to teach shows the largest gains across decades.

Overall tolerance trend

Average tolerant responses rose from <8/15 in 1976 to >10/15 by 2018.

Tolerance and political events

Trends are steady and not strongly affected by events like 9/11 or elections.

Generational differences

Younger generations (especially Millennials) are more tolerant than older cohorts.

Education and tolerance

Higher education strongly increases tolerance; graduate‑educated individuals show highest tolerance.

Cognitive ability

Higher cognitive skills correlate with greater tolerance independent of education.

Duty‑based citizenship

Emphasizes social order and conformity; strongly associated with lower tolerance.

Engaged citizenship

Emphasizes social rights and empathy; slightly increases tolerance.

Engaged citizenship

Emphasizes social rights and empathy; slightly increases tolerance.

Party identification

Once controlling for other factors, partisanship does not significantly predict tolerance.

Main predictors of tolerance

Higher education, higher cognitive ability, younger age, and engaged citizenship norms.

Main predictors of intolerance

Older age and strong duty‑based citizenship norms.

Key chapter takeaway

Despite polarization narratives, Americans have become more tolerant over time due to generational replacement, rising education, and shifting citizenship norms.