Carolin Rapp

Crafting tolerance: the role of political institutions in a comparative perspective:

Ongoing changes in social structures, orientation, and value systems confront us with the growing necessity to address and understand transforming patterns of tolerance as well as specific aspects, such as social tolerance. Based on hierarchical analyses of the latest World Values Survey (2005–08) and national statistics for 28 countries, we assess both individual and contextual aspects that influence an individuals perception of different social groupings. Using a social tolerance index that captures personal attitudes toward these groupings, we present an institutional theory of social tolerance. Our results show that specific institutional qualities, which reduce status anxiety, such as inclusiveness, universality, and fairness, prevail over traditional socio-economic, societal, cultural, and democratic explanations.

Teaching Tolerance? Associational Diversity and Tolerance Formation

Tolerance is a basic democratic principle that helps civil societies cope with rising levels of diversity stemming from increased immigration and individualism. During the last decade the question of how tolerance may be fostered has dominated debates in public and academic spheres. In this article, a closer look is taken at how associational diversity relates to the formation of tolerance and the importance of associations as schools of tolerance are evaluated. The main theoretical argument follows contact theory, wherein regular and enduring contact in diverse settings reduces prejudice and thereby increases an individuals tolerance toward objectionable groups. The empirical findings reveal a positive relationship between associational diversity and tolerance. It is observed, however, that the duration of active engagement in associations reduces this positive relation between diversity and tolerance. Accordingly, these results challenge the notion that associations serve as schools of tolerance in the long run.

The Personal Foundations of Political Tolerance towards Immigrants

In this paper, we expand previous research on the psychological foundations of attitudes towards immigrants by evaluating the role of the Big Five personality traits with regard to the formation of political tolerance. Following the literature, we elaborate tolerance as a sequential concept of rejection and acceptance to uncover differentiating effects of personality on both immigrant-specific prejudices as well as on the assignment of the right to vote as a pivotal political privilege to this group. Using a representative sample of the Swiss population, with its distinctive history related to the immigration issue, our two-step Heckman selection models reveal that extroverts and people who score low in agreeableness exhibit negative attitudes towards immigrants. At the same time, only openness to experience is significantly connected to the likeliness of granting immigrants the right to vote.

Moral Politics: The Religious Factor in Referenda Voting

This article combines the research strands of moral politics and political behavior by focusing on the effect of individual and contextual religiosity on individual vote decisions in popular initiatives and public referenda concerning morally charged issues. We rely on a total of 13 surveys with 1,000 respondents each conducted after every referendum on moral policies in Switzerland between 1992 and 2012. Results based on cross-classified multilevel models show that religious behaving instead of nominal religious belonging plays a crucial role in decision making on moral issues. This supports the idea that the traditional confessional cleavage is replaced by a new religious cleavage that divides the religious from the secular. This newer cleavage is characterized by party alignments that extend from electoral to direct democratic voting behavior. Overall, our study lends support to previous findings drawn from American research on moral politics, direct democracies, and the public role of religion.

More diversity, less tolerance? The effect of type of cultural diversity on the erosion of tolerance in Swiss municipalities

Immigration and the ways in which host societies receive newcomers pose challenges for modern civil societies. This article contributes to the ongoing discussion about how ethnic diversity influences tolerance towards immigrants. Compared to previous studies, we analyse tolerance as a sequential concept in order to uncover the effects of contextual diversity on attitudes towards immigrants and the granting of certain rights to this group. Moreover, we distinguish different shares of ethnic groups based on their ethnic and cultural origins both on the independent and dependent variable. The analysis relies on a subnational survey of sixty municipalities in Switzerland, revealing that only certain ethnic groups are seen as an economic and cultural threat.

Not so risky business? How social policies shape the perceived feasibility of self-employment

This article addresses ongoing debates about whether the welfare state hinders or fosters self-employment. Starting a business can be an inherently risky undertaking and is thus not a feasible option for all people. Policies that have the potential to shoulder some of this risk can be particularly important for the decision to enter into self-employment. Taking individual differences in terms of risk tolerance into account, we focus on unemployment protection for the self-employed – a type of risk which is particularly difficult to privately insure oneself against – in order to investigate the ways in which policy can shape people’s perceptions of self-employment. We combine individual-level data from a 2009 Flash Eurobarometer survey with country-level data on unemployment policies in Europe in a multilevel design, finding that the presence of unemployment protection for the self-employed positively influences individual perceptions of the feasibility of self-employment. Risk-tolerant individuals, moreover, are found to be even more likely to assess self-employment as a feasible option in countries that offer unemployment protection to the self-employed.

The consequences of social intolerance on non-violent protest behavior

This paper scrutinizes the impact of intolerance toward diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural groups on an individuals willingness to actively engage in non-violent protest. Following new insights, we examine the individual as well as the ecological effect of social intolerance on protest behavior. Drawing from insights of social psychology and communication science, we expect that the prevalence of intolerance reinforces the positive effect of individual-level intolerance on protest participation. From a rational choice perspective, however, a negative moderating effect is expected, as the expression of opinions becomes redundant for intolerant individuals in an intolerant society. We base our multilevel analyses on data from the World Values Surveys covering 32 established democracies. Our results reveal that intolerance leads to more non-violent protest participation. This relationship, however, is strongly influenced by the prevalence of intolerance in a country.

The consequences of social intolerance on non-violent protest

This paper scrutinizes the impact of intolerance toward diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural groups on an individuals willingness to actively engage in non-violent protest. Following new insights, we examine the individual as well as the ecological effect of social intolerance on protest behavior. Drawing from insights of social psychology and communication science, we expect that the prevalence of intolerance reinforces the positive effect of individual-level intolerance on protest participation. From a rational choice perspective, however, a negative moderating effect is expected, as the expression of opinions becomes redundant for intolerant individuals in an intolerant society. We base our multilevel analyses on data from the World Values Surveys covering 32 established democracies. Our results reveal that intolerance leads to more non-violent protest participation. This relationship, however, is strongly influenced by the prevalence of intolerance in a country.

Shaping tolerant attitudes towards immigrants: The role of welfare state expenditures

This article contributes to the ongoing discussion on how tolerance may be fostered in Western European countries and to the question of how contextual factors such as welfare state expenditures may contribute to this formation. Tolerance is understood as a basic democratic principle that helps civil societies cope with rising levels of diversity stemming from increased immigration and individualism. Within the tolerance literature, it is commonly agreed upon that a comprehensive welfare state is capable of bridging class divides and overcoming social categorization. However, over the past decades, European welfare states experienced an ongoing influx of immigrants, challenging their general purpose and increasing notions of ‘welfare chauvinism’. Drawing on insights from both tolerance and welfare state solidarity literature, we implement hierarchical analyses based on Eurobarometer data to assess the potential influence of welfare state universalism on political and social tolerance in 15 Western European countries. Moreover, we demonstrate that this relationship is highly conditional on the degree of ethnic heterogeneity within a country.

Einflussfaktoren sozialer und politischer Toleranz im europäischen Vergleich

In diesem empirischen Kapitel sollen die Hypothesen zur Entstehung sozialer und politischer Toleranz im europaischen Landervergleich systematisch untersucht werden. Der Fokus liegt dabei primar auf der Frage, welche kontextuellen und insbesondere institutionellen Faktoren zu mehr individueller Toleranz fuhren. Die Daten zu dieser Analyse stammen aus dem Eurobarometer 47.1 aus dem Jahr 1997. Wie bereits in Kapitel 3 erwahnt, gibt es bis dato kaum Umfragen im europaischen Vergleich, die Toleranz anhand einer zweistufigen Fragestellung aus Ablehnungs- und Zustimmungskomponente erfassen. Das Eurobarometer 47.1, das sich speziell mit dem Thema Rassismus befasst, ist bisher der einzige Datensatz, auf dessen Grundlage eine ausfuhrliche Analyse der Toleranz im europaischen Vergleich moglich ist. Obwohl es sich um eine bereits 15 Jahre alte Umfrage handelt, wurde diese bisher nur von Weldon (2006), der die Wirkung von Minderheitenrechten auf soziale und politische Toleranz untersuchte, herangezogen. Weiter sind international vergleichende Untersuchungen zu Toleranz mit wenigen Ausnahmen (Kirchner et al., 2011; Peffley und Rohrschneider, 2003; Weldon, 2006) sehr rar gesat, was die Notwendigkeit einer vergleichenden Studie unabdingbar macht. Daruber hinaus gibt es in der Toleranzliteratur bisher kaum Studien zu den kontextuellen Determinanten der Toleranz (siehe Kapitel 4.3).