ABSTRACT
This is an introductory chapter, setting the context for the book. The latter concerns current fears about the stability of society, the threat of ‘foreign’ invasion, and a tendency for societies and majorities in whole nations to turn inwards. These attitudes predominate in many Western countries, at times creating an ugly atmosphere of suspicion and prejudice towards those perceived as different and hence dangerous, whether they are minorities within society or those wishing to enter our society.
I give various examples when issues of tolerance and intolerance come into the picture, such as the beheading of hostages, the French banning of the Hijab, and attitudes to immigrants and refugees.
The new intolerance includes fears about the ‘hordes’ of immigrants—a fear which is often confused with realistic fears about terrorist attacks—populist fears about loss of cultural integrity and with it a sense of powerlessness, and fearful debates about such basics as truth, the so-called ‘post truth’ issue. Such fears, as I shall explore, mirror old arguments going back centuries to the early enlightenment thinkers and even before, when the parameters of discussion about tolerance were mainly around religious tolerance. I suggest that there is an urgent need to address these kinds of issue once more at a time when the ‘ground rules’ of what makes for a civilized society seem to be under threat.
Yet one of the major political issues today is how to manage or accommodate all the different communities within society with the least amount of turmoil, both managing perceptions and beliefs between different groups, but also within groups where intolerance of difference can be just as problematic.
I explore in detail issues of tolerance and intolerance, as well as the role of the stranger and strangeness in provoking basic fears about our identity.
I develop a notion of ‘Subject Tolerance’. By this I mean that one respects the other and others as subjects of their experience, with agency and capacity for independent judgment. This contrasts with ‘Object Tolerance’, when the other and others are put up with as mere objects, to be treated as subject to those in power. Subject tolerance requires a tolerant internal space as much as a capacity to respect the right of others to hold different beliefs.
The book adds psychological understanding of tolerance and intolerance to various historical, political, and philosophical thinking about these issues.
