Understanding social influence on political tolerance

The tension between the value of civil liberties and the value of public order has recently become more salient. At this intersection, studies on political tolerance explore under which conditions citizens support the extension of rights of citizenship to others whose ideas or interests they oppose. In this dissertation, comprising three papers, I explore the social factors that influence the level of political tolerance: partisan dynamics, the rise of political activism, and the role of politicians. The first paper examines how partisan identity and conformity shape political intolerance. I test whether a request for partisan conformity increases their willingness to act on political intolerance and investigate which narrative drives this conformity, particularly comparing the narratives involving ingroup praise and outgroup derogation. The second paper examines whether the experience of arguing for the rally of their most-liked group increases the willingness to allow the rally of their least-liked group. The third paper pays attention to a politician’s decision over a rally permit and studies its effect on citizens’ attitudes toward the politician and the group involved in the rally. Furthermore, I disentangle citizens’ sociotropic and egocentric considerations as they respond to the consequences of the mayor’s decision. This dissertation makes two key contributions. First, it expands the study of political tolerance by making connections with other literature (i.e. affective polarization and accountability). Second, it shows asymmetry in the pliability of political tolerance and intolerance, where persuading citizens to become tolerant is more challenging than persuading them to become intolerant.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Jung, Seyoung

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ksiazkiewicz, Aleksander
• Mondak, Jeffery J
• Rudolph, Thomas J
• Livny, Avital

• Political Tolerance
• Conformity
• Spillover
• Mayoral Approval
• Sociotropic Consideration
• And Egocentric Consideration

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Seyoung Jung

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121401

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F121401