ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the question whether objections towards particular practices and beliefs can reflect not only prejudicial group-based attitudes but also more principled concerns and considerations. This is an important question, because there is little room for tolerance if criticism, disagreement, dislike, or disapproval is driven by group-based antipathy. If that is the case, then the focus should not be on tolerance but rather on understanding forms of prejudice, racism, and discrimination, and on evaluating prejudice-reduction and anti-racism approaches. The empirical research that is discussed clearly demonstrates that disagreements, dislikes, and disapprovals of specific beliefs, practices, and behaviours often do not simply reflect underlying group-based prejudices and thus raise the question of tolerance. Therefore, the key argument is that the social psychology of tolerance and intolerance differs from what is examined in the great many studies on prejudice, racism, and discrimination.
