Are the Balkans tolerant?

Volume 6, Issue 1, February 2022     |     PP. 1-22      |     PDF (323 K)    |     Pub. Date: January 10, 2022
DOI: 10.54647/sociology84726    73 Downloads     5733 Views  

Author(s)

Lilia DIMOVA, Agency for Social Analyses (ASA), Bulgaria
Martin DIMOV, Gem Seek Company, Bulgaria

Abstract
This study focuses on Balkans’ tolerance to ‘different others’, to people with specific sexuality and to migrants. Tolerance is defined as a value construct and multi-dimensional social phenomenon combining four interconnected components: perception, recognition, appreciation, and acceptance of diversity. Based on ESS data we calculated tolerance indexes and run random forest algorithms to measure the levels of tolerance and key influencers in Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and the Greek part of Cyprus. Results found that their abstract tolerance is higher while target tolerance is significantly lower compared to that in the rest of Europe. The tolerance determinants range differently in each society, but life satisfaction, living standard, religion, trust in national institutions stand out among the top common vectors.

Keywords
tolerance; index of tolerance; random forest algorithm; ESS; different others; people with specific sexuality; migrants.

Cite this paper
Lilia DIMOVA, Martin DIMOV, Are the Balkans tolerant? , SCIREA Journal of Sociology. Volume 6, Issue 1, February 2022 | PP. 1-22. 10.54647/sociology84726

References

[ 1 ] Blommaert, J. & J. Verschueren, (2020). Debating Diversity: Analysing the Discourse of Tolerance. 10.4324/9780203029275.
[ 2 ] Breiman, L. (2001). "Random Forests". Machine Learning. 45 (1): 5–32
[ 3 ] Brown, W. (2006). Regulating aversion: Tolerance in the age of identity and empire. Princeton University Press.
[ 4 ] Campbell, B. & Manning, J. (2018). The rise of victimhood culture: Microaggression, safe spaces, and the new culture wars. Palgrave Macmillan.
[ 5 ] Carson, D. A. (2012). The intolerance of tolerance. Eerdmans. Crossman, Ashley. (2020) "The Concept of "Other" in Sociology." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/concept-of-other-in-sociology-3026437.
[ 6 ] Crossman, A. (2020). "The Concept of "Other" in Sociology." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/concept-of-other-in-sociology-3026437.
[ 7 ] Dimova, l. and M. Dimov (2019) Dynamic of ‘US’ to ‘THEM’ tolerance at European context (2013 – 2017). Report presented at the 4th International ESS Conference „Turbulent Times in Europe: Instability, Insecurity and Inequality “, Mannheim 15–17 April 2019.
[ 8 ] Dimova, L. and M. Dimov (2021) Religion and Ethnicity: Paradoxes and Scientific Challenges, International Journal of Sociology, DOI: 10.1080/00207659.2021.1964273
[ 9 ] Dimova, L. and M. Dimov. (2019) Is Europe happy? An innovative attempt to evaluate it. In Človek a spoločnosť [Individual and Society], 2019, roč. 22, č. 4, s. 42-62. doi: http://doi.org/10.31577/cas.2019.04.562
[ 10 ] ESS Round 9: European Social Survey Round 9 Data (2018). Data file edition 3.1. NSD - Norwegian Centre for Research Data, Norway – Data Archive and distributor of ESS data for ESS ERIC. doi:10.21338/NSD-ESS9-2018.
[ 11 ] Ferrar, J. W. (1976). The dimensions of tolerance. The Pacific Sociological Review,19(1), 63–81.
[ 12 ] Forst, R. (2013). Toleration in conflict. Past and present, C. Cronin (trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
[ 13 ] Forst, R. (2017). Toleration. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall 2017 Edn.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/toleration/.
[ 14 ] Galleotti, A. E. (2015). The range of toleration: From toleration as recognition back to disrespectful tolerance. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 41, 93–110. doi:10.1177/0191453714559424 SAGE Journals | ISI
[ 15 ] Hjerm, M., Eger, M.A., Bohman, A. et al. (2020). A New Approach to the Study of Tolerance: Conceptualizing and Measuring Acceptance, Respect, and Appreciation of Difference. Soc Indic Res 147, 897–919 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02176-y
[ 16 ] Insel, A. (2019). Tolerated but not equal. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 45(4), 511–515. doi:10.1177/0191453719831332
[ 17 ] Kenton, B. ed. (2013). “Generalized other” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. https://sociologydictionary.org/generalized-other/.
[ 18 ] Martela, F., & Ryan, R. M. (2016). Prosocial behavior increases well-being and vitality even without contact with the beneficiary: Causal and behavioral evidence. Motivation and Emotion, 40(3),351–357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-016-9552-z
[ 19 ] Tilkidjiev, N. and L. Dimova (eds) (2010) Well-being and trust: Bulgaria in Europe? (Comparative Analyses on ESS Rounds 2006/2009 data). Sofia: East-West Publishing House. (In Bulgarian)
[ 20 ] Verkuyten, M. and R. Kollar. 2021. Tolerance and intolerance: Cultural meanings and discursive usage. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X20984356
[ 21 ] Verkuyten, M., Yogeeswaran, K., Adelman, L. (2020). The negative implications of being tolerated: Tolerance from the target’s perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(3), 544–561. doi:10.1177/1745691619897974
[ 22 ] Witenberg, R. 2014. Tolerance is more than putting up with things: it’s a moral virtue, https://theconversation.com/tolerance-is-more-than-putting-up-with-things-its-a-moral-virtue-31507