Comparer des méthodes

	Échelle de tolérance politique	Échelle de soutien à la démocratie
Domaine	Psychologie politique	Psychologie politique
Famille	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Année d'origine	1955	1999
Auteur d'origine	Samuel Stouffer, James Gibson, John Sullivan	Russell Dalton & Pippa Norris
Type	Self-report	Self-report
Source fondatrice	Stouffer, S. A. (1955). Communism, conformity, and civil liberties: A cross-section of the nation speaks its mind. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.	Dalton, R. J. (2004). Democratic challenges, democratic choices: The erosion of political support in advanced industrial democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Alias	DTCL, Civil Liberties Scale, Majoritarian Constraint Scale	SFD, Democratic Legitimacy Scale, System Support Scale
Apparentées	2	3
Résumé	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.	The Democratic Support Scale measures citizen commitment to democracy as a regime type, including beliefs that democracy is the best system of government, willingness to defend democratic institutions, and rejection of non-democratic alternatives. Pioneered by Norris (1999) and Dalton (2004) in comparative research, the measure distinguishes regime support (belief in democracy's superiority) from performance support (satisfaction with current government). It addresses the paradox of 'critical citizens'—in advanced democracies, people often express dissatisfaction with current government performance while maintaining deep commitment to democratic principles.