Political Tolerance Scale
The Political Tolerance Scale measures willingness to permit unpopular groups to exercise civil liberties and political rights, including free speech, assembly, and voting rights even for groups the respondent strongly opposes. Pioneered by Stouffer (1955) measuring tolerance of communists during McCarthyism and extended by Gibson (1989) and Sullivan, Piereson, and Marcus (1982), the scale assesses fundamental democratic commitment—that pluralism and minority rights supersede majoritarian preference. It addresses the paradox: can democracy survive if majorities vote to restrict minority rights? Tolerance is essential for democratic stability, particularly as polarization increases.
Source record
Citations copied verbatim from the method’s source record. No claim-level verification is inferred from them.
- Stouffer, S. A. (1955). Communism, conformity, and civil liberties: A cross-section of the nation speaks its mind. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. · URL
- Gibson, J. L. (1989). Understanding the tolerant: A latent variable model of support for civil liberties in the Soviet Union. American Journal of Political Science, 33(3), 797-825. · URL
- Sullivan, J. L., Piereson, J., & Marcus, G. E. (1982). Political tolerance and American democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. · URL
Curated claims
Claims persisted in the evidence ledger, each with its own assessment.
This view does not invent a claim assessment when the ledger has none.
Related methods
Generated from the method graph and shown as machine-suggested relations — no evidence claim is inferred.