Left-Right Social Identity and the Polarization of Political Tolerance

Abstract

A growing literature finds that social identity attachments to ideological and partisan groups often generate mistrust, hostility, and prejudice toward opposition groups. Yet, there are no studies of whether attachments to ideological groups (i.e., left, right, liberal, and conservative) contribute to political intolerance—defined as an unwillingness to extend basic liberties to groups one opposes—a widely studied and politically consequential form of outgroup hostility. Using both observational and experimental data, we examine how social identity attachments to left–right groups in Israel influence Jewish Israelis’ political intolerance of disliked domestic groups, that is, least-liked groups and Arab citizens. In contrast to other studies—mostly in the US—that find roughly parallel levels of political and social prejudice toward opposition groups, we theorize and find that more strongly attached rightists and leftists in Israel become more polarized in their levels of political tolerance toward disliked groups. Among rightists, stronger identities decrease tolerance, whereas among leftists, political tolerance increases. Thus, outside the US, identity strength can actually be a protector of democratic values, leading some groups (i.e., Jewish leftists) to become more tolerant.