ABSTRACT
Over some decades, beginning in the mid-1970s and continuing thru to the mid-2000s, John Sullivan took the lead on investigating what causes diverse people to effectively engage with each other to find common purpose. The principal advance of that research centered on resolving the discrepancy between general support for abstract principles of Democracy, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the display of rampant intolerance of specific despised groups. That resolution was achieved by the invention of the “least-liked” methods. There exists a tension between what people believe in the abstract realm of “principles” and what they wish to do when faced by groups that they find noxious. Disentangling those two factors sheds new light on old certainties. This chapter reviews that “new light,” but also reviews the contributions in this arena that have largely gone underappreciated. The chapter considers how education—when directed at securing understanding of and commitment to specific norms of democracy—can produce competent citizens that are capable of navigating conflict and practicing tolerance.
