LISS panel Grant 2019. Authors: Linda Bos (Universiteit van Amsterdam – Faculteit der Maatschappij en Gedragswetenschappen).
A strong democracy needs a vibrant public sphere, governed by normative values of democratic pluralism, freedom of expression and equality. Nowadays, political discussion does not always adhere to these norms, instead showing signs of political intolerance. This project looks at the presence and correlates of political intolerance in an effort to tease out who is less likely to grant political opponents basic civil liberties. While extant research points to ideological extremity and absolutist moral beliefs as roots of political intolerance, the role populist attitudes play has not been studied. There are, however, theoretical and empirical reasons to find citizens with populist worldviews to be more unforgiving towards their political opponents. This project builds upon previous studies by investigating the extent to which morality and extremity are related to political intolerance in the Netherlands. It adds to the field by (1) measuring (the presence of) online as well as offline political intolerance, (2) distinguishing between generic, targeted and issue-specific intolerance, and (3) exploring the role populist attitudes play.
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