Effects of Political Knowledge on Political Tolerance

ABSTRACT

Sexual orientation continues to be an explosive issue in American classrooms. Increasing the political knowledge of students can reduce the volatility of this explosive issue by increasing tolerance toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. This relationship between political knowledge and political tolerance has been recognized since Stouffer’s seminal work (1955) examining respondents’ tolerance toward unpopular groups. Since then, a number of political scientists have worked to further our understanding of the link between political knowledge and political tolerance. This manuscript expands upon the existing literature by examining the effect of political knowledge on political tolerance toward same-sex marriage equality using 10-minute lectures involving the U.S. Constitution. Findings will show that significant changes can be made to political tolerance levels by using a limited amount of time and information to increase the political knowledge of survey respondents.

KEYWORDS:

• Explosive issues
• political knowledge
• political tolerance
• same-sex marriage

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Powell Hall

Dr. John Powell Hall received his doctorate from Auburn University in 2014. He began work as a tenure track assistant professor at Middle Georgia State University in the summer of 2015. Dr. Hall’s research interests include political tolerance, political knowledge, and contact theory. Dr. Hall has taught American National Government, U.S. Constitutional Law, State & Local Government, Political Economy, Research Methodology, and Global Politics. Dr. Hall is happily married to his wife Tiffany and enjoys spending as much time as possible with her and their four children Julian, Gabriel, Harlow, and Lucas.