much has been learned about why some citizens are toler - ant and others are not. However, the subfield has not reached agree- ment as to how these attitudes ought to be measured, and at least three competing measurement approaches currently exist: (1) the fixed-group approach, championed by the General Social Survey; (2) the "least- liked" group approach, invented by Sullivan, Piereson, and marcus (1982); and (3) an approach focusing not on groups but on support for restrictive public policies (e.g., Davis 2007). Although a few measure- ment studies have been published, generally research in this subfield has shown little concern about how different dependent variables overlap (or do not overlap). measurement issues thus stand as an important impedi- ment to advancing our understanding of the causes and consequences of political intolerance. This article considers the connections between political intolerance and general support for civil liberties. most gener - ally, I discover that different measures seem to be measuring somewhat different constructs, and that researchers therefore should not assume that different aspects of tolerance and support for civil liberties are

Measuring Political Tolerance and General Support for Pro–Civil Liberties Policies Notes, Evidence, and Cautions

The current study, grounded in the parasocial contact hypothesis, employed a survey of emerging adults to investigate the relationship between exposure to gay characters on television and heterosexuals' endorsement of gay equality. A positive relationship existed between exposure to on-screen gay characters and gay equality endorsement. The relationship was stronger for racial minority participants than for White participants, and for participants who had no or few interpersonal relationships with openly gay individuals than for participants who had more than three respective relationships. Results are discussed in terms of the parasocial contact hypothesis and television as an agent of social change.

Gay On-Screen: The Relationship Between Exposure to Gay Characters on Television and Heterosexual Audiences' Endorsement of Gay Equality

Americans have become increasingly tolerant of controversial outgroups in results from the nationally representative General Social Survey (1972–2012, N = 35,048). Specifically, adults in the 2010s (versus the 1970s and 1980s) were more likely to agree that Communists, homosexuals, the anti-religious, militarists, and those believing Blacks are genetically inferior should be allowed to give a public speech, teach at a college, or have a book in a local library. Cross-classification hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses separating the effects of time period, cohort/generation, and age show that these trends were driven by both a linear time period effect and a curvilinear cohort effect, with those born in the late 1940s (Boomers) the most tolerant when age and time period were controlled. Tolerance of homosexuals increased the most, and tolerance of racists the least. The increase in tolerance is positively correlated with higher levels of education and individualistic attitudes, including rejecting traditional social rules, but is negatively correlated with changes in empathy.

Time Period, Generational, and Age Differences in Tolerance for Controversial Beliefs and Lifestyles in the United States, 1972–2012

http://papers.ccpr.ucla.edu/index.php/pwp/article/download/PWP-CCPR-2015-003/74

The instability of omnivorous cultural taste over time

We employ hierarchical age–period–cohort models and the 1974–2010 General Social Survey data to examine changes in the political tolerance of gays and lesbians, communists, racists, and anti-religi...

An Age–Period–Cohort Analysis of Political Tolerance in the United States

Recent survey data illustrate growing tolerance of various traditionally unpopular groups and their rights to teach, speak publicly, live near us as neighbors, and have their books reside in public libraries Gay and lesbian people perhaps have enjoyed the largest shift in tolerance during the past decade and a half, though other groups have come to enjoy greater acceptance as well This article presents trend data regarding public attitudes toward feminists, Jews, atheists, persons with strong religious beliefs, immigrants, Muslims, militarists, and AIDS sufferers since 1990 Groups that have recently experienced poorer acceptance include Muslims since 9/11 and immigrants more broadly over the past decade Most other groups asked about in surveys have come to enjoy more acceptance Despite the broad patterns of growing tolerance toward people who are unlike most respondents, it remains quite possible that Americans have shifted their intolerance toward other least-liked groups

Chelsea E. Schafer

Papers

Trends—Tolerance in the United States