ABSTRACT
Morality and tolerance have not always gone hand in hand, although today’s idea that morality is not against tolerance, but should necessarily include its presence, wins the power of the law in Western societies. This change could not go unquestioned when it comes to encountering the realities of non-Western societies. This chapter first addresses the theoretical question of the conciliation between tolerance and morality and reads it through the lens of conformity. It brings light upon two case studies drawn from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a village in the Republic of Moldova to argue that tolerance is possible when the moral law is violated, only if this violation is not perceived as threatening the community. In a context of instability, ‘civic’ norms, in the sense of conformity with the majority, appear more important than moral norms. By examining the attitude towards community members who hold different values, this chapter aims to identify mechanisms through which communities incorporate individual deviant behaviour.
