This article tests the thesis of pluralistic intolerance developed by Sullivan and his colleagues. The thesis attempts to explain the survival of democracy in the United States despite high levels of political intolerance. The test is conducted with survey data from Israel and Costa Rica. The targets and levels of intolerance in both countries are reported and it is found that in neither one does the thesis seem to apply. The findings lead to the conclusion that political tolerance by itself cannot explain the survival of democratic regimes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ABRAMOV, S. (1976) Perpetual Dilemma: Jewish Religion in the Jewish State. London: Associated Univ. Presses.
2.
ARIAS SÁNCHEZ, O. (1971) Grupos de presion en Costa Rica. San José: Editorial Costa Rica.
3.
AVRUCH, K. (1978/9) “Gush Emunim: politics, religion and ideology in Israel.”Middle East Rev.11 (Winter): 26-31.
4.
BELL, J. P. (1971) Crisis in Costa Rica: The Revolution of 1948. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
5.
BUDGE, I. (1970) Agreement and Stability of Democracy. Chicago: Markham.
6.
COHEN, E. (1972) “The Black Panthers in Israeli society.”Jewish J. of Sociology14 (June): 93-110.
7.
DAHL, R. A. (1971) Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
8.
DAVIS, J. A. (1975) “Communism, conformity, cohorts, and categories: American tolerance in 1954 and 1972-73.”Amer. J. of Sociology81 (November): 491-513.
9.
DENNIS, J. , L. LINDBERG, D. McCRONE, and R. STIEFBOLD (1968) “Political socialization to democratic orientations in four western systems.”Comparative Pol. Studies1 (April): 71-101.
10.
DOLGIN, J. L. (1977) Jewish Identity and the JDL. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
11.
ETZIONI-HALEVY, E. (1977) Political Culture in Israel: Cleavage and Integration Among Israeli Jews. New York: Praeger.
12.
FERNÁNDEZ, M. E., A. SCHMIDT, and V. BASURI (1976) La población de Costa Rica. Ciudad Universitaria “Rodrigo Facio”: Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica.
13.
FRIEDMAN, M. (1975) “Religious zealotry in Israeli society,” pp. 91-112 in S. Pool and E. Klausz, (eds.) On Ethnic and Religious Diversity in Israel. Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University.
14.
GRATCH, H. [Ed.] (1973) Twenty-Five Years of Social Research in Israel. Jerusalem: Academic Press.
15.
JACKMAN, M. (1978) “General and applied tolerance: does education increase commitment to racial integration?”Amer. J. of Pol. Sci.22 (May): 80-324.
16.
JACKMAN, R. W. (1977) “Much ado about nothing.”J. of Politics39 (February): 185-192.
17.
JACKMAN, R. W. (1972) “Political elites, mass public, and support for democratic principles.”J. of Politics34 (August): 753-773.
18.
LAWRENCE, D. G. (1976) “Procedural norms and tolerance: a reassessment.”Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev.70 (March): 80-100.
19.
LINZ, J. J. and A. STEPAN (1978) The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
20.
LIPSET, S. M. and S. ROKKAN [Eds.] (1967) Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives. New York: Free Press.
21.
McCLOSKY, H. (1964) “Consensus and ideology in American politics.”Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev.58 (June): 361-382.
22.
MARGOLIS, M. and K. E. HAGUE (1981) “Applied tolerance or fear of government? An alternative interpretation of Jackman's findings.”Amer. J. of Pol. Sci.25 (May): 241-255.
23.
MULLER, E. N. and M. A. SELIGSON (1982) “Support for liberal and civil libertarian conceptions of democracy.” Presented to the annual meeting of the Western Political Science Association, San Diego, March 24-27.
24.
MULLER, E. N. , T. O. JUKAM, and M. A. SELIGSON (1982) “Diffuse political support and antisystem political behavior: a comparative analysis.”Amer. J. of Pol. Sci.26 (May): 240-264.
25.
NUNN, C. A. , H. J. CROCKETT, and J. A. WILLIAMS (1978) Tolerance for Nonconformity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
26.
O'DEA, J. (1976) “Gush Emunim: roots and ambiguities.”Forum2 (25): 39-50.
27.
PROTHRO, J. W. and C. M. GRIGG (1960) “Fundamental principles of democracy: bases of agreement and disagreement.”J. of Politics22 (May): 275-294.
28.
ST. PETER, L. , J. A. WILLIAMS, JR., and D. R. JOHNSON (1977) “Comments on Jackman's political elites, mass publics and support for democratic principles.”J. of Politics39 (February): 176-184.
29.
SCHIFTER, J. (1979) La fase oculta de la guerra civil en Costa Rica. Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, Costa Rica: Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana.
30.
SCHNALL, D. (1979) Radical Dissent in Contemporary Israeli Politics: Cracks in the Wall. New York: Praeger.
31.
SELIGSON, M. A. (forthcoming) “Competitive elections in the circum-Caribbean region: a problem of explanation,” in M. Weiner and E. Ozbudun, (eds.) Competitive Elections in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
32.
SELIGSON, M. A. and D. CASPI (1983) “Arabs in Israel: political tolerance and ethnic conflict.”J. of Applied Behavioral Sci.19 (February).
33.
SPRINZAK, E. (1977) “Extreme politics in Israel.”Jerusalem Q.5 (Fall): 33-47.
34.
STOUFFER, S. A. (1955) Communism, Conformity, and Civil Liberties: A Cross-Section of the Nation Speaks its Mind. New York: Doubleday.
35.
SULLIVAN, J. L. , J. PIERSON, and G. E. MARCUS (1979) “An alternative reconceptualization of political tolerance: illusory increases 1950s-1970s.”Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev.73 (September): 781-794.
36.
YUVAL-DAVIS, N. (1977) “Mazpen: the Israeli socialist organization.” Papers in Sociology. Jerusalem: Eliezer Kaplan School of Economics and Social Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (Hebrew with English abstract.)
