Popular understandings of tolerance: a comparative study of european societies with contrasting levels of diversity

Tolerance has historically been understood as a virtuous and desirable concept, and in the
context of contemporary rapid population and social change as an increasingly important
European value. As such, it has been the subject of much philosophical debate and
qualification. Notably, toleration has been credited with facilitating the peaceful urban coexistence of those with different identities, histories and cultures; and ‘difference’ has been
understood to make toleration necessary. Yet, much less is known about how ordinary people
understand the concept of tolerance. This paper addresses this lacuna through a study of
popular understandings of tolerance in two contrasting European societies: Poland and
Britain. By thinking comparatively, the paper exposes the distinctive processes which shape
popular understandings of tolerance in urban contexts characterised by contrasting levels of
proximity to ‘difference’ to counter universalizing theories of tolerance. At the same time, by
relating insights from one city to the other, and identifying how some ideas about thresholds
of tolerance travel between places, the paper uses a sensitivity to both place specificity, and
the relational nature of tolerance, to reflect on how we might make urban policy at a
European scale that is applicable in differentiated context.