ACCEPT PLURALISM- Tolerance, pluralism and social cohesion: responding to the challenges of the 21st century in Europe
Programme group Challenges to Democratic Representation
This European FP7 funded project investigates the meanings of tolerance in a variety of contexts with a special focus on ‘what needs to be done’ actually in Europe in order to proceed to more coherent societies, while respecting ethnic, religious and cultural plurality.
EC, FP7
Period: 1-3-2010 until 31-5-2013
ACCEPT PLURALISM is about toleration and acceptance of ethnic and religious diversity in contemporary Europe.
In recent times, Europe has experienced increasing tensions between national majorities and ethnic or religious minorities, more particularly with marginalised Muslim communities. In some countries challenges relate more to immigrant groups while in other countries they refer to native minority claims. It is in this geopolitical context that the ACCEPT PLURALISM project responds to Topic 3.3.1 and notably in the quest for investigating whether European societies have become more or less tolerant and in the necessity to clarify:
- how is tolerance defined conceptually;
- how it is codified in norms, institutional arrangements, public policies but also social practices;
- how tolerance can be measured and how the degree of tolerance of a society across time or of several countries at the same time can be compared (whose tolerance, who is tolerated, and what if degrees of tolerance vary with reference to different minority groups).
The project starts from a distinction between thin/liberal tolerance (not interfering with practices or forms of life of a person even if one disapproves of them) and thick/egalitarian tolerance referring to institutional arrangements and public policies that fight negative stereotyping, promote positive inclusive identities and re-organise the public space in ways that accommodate diversity.
It reviews critically past empirical research and the scholarly theoretical literature on the topic. It conducts original empirical research on key events of national and European relevance that thematise different understandings and practices of tolerance. Bringing together empirical and theoretical findings, ACCEPT PLURALISM generates a set of Tolerance Indicators.
These indicators will inform the evaluation and development of public policies in this area. The project includes direct communication and feedback mechanisms with civil society, political and media actors for the dissemination and exploitation of its findings.