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The consequences of social intolerance on non-violent protest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2015

Carolin Rapp  and
Kathrin Ackermann
Carolin Rapp*
Affiliation:
Institute for Political Science, University of Bern (CH), Bern, Switzerland
Kathrin Ackermann
Affiliation:
Institute for Political Science, University of Bern (CH), Bern, Switzerland
*
*E-mail: carolin.rapp@ipw.unibe.ch
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Abstract

This paper scrutinizes the impact of intolerance toward diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural groups on an individual’s 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.

Keywords

intoleranceprotest behaviorWorld Values Surveyspiral of silencevalues
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , November 2016 , pp. 567 - 588
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2015 

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