Political tolerance in South Africa: Self-discrepancy and change

Abstract

Individuals have a representation of how they personally feel about issues ('actual' feelings), as well as a representation of the attitudes that they believe they should 'ideally' possess, reflecting personal values. Furthermore, existing in a social-political environment, individuals make estimations of how they believe others around them think that they 'ought' to feel. These different representations of self may conflict, especially where external constraints on political actions are present. A survey of self-discrepancies before and after the change in political system in South Africa tests whether the change in regime and possible political behaviors impacted actual, ideal, and ought attitudes about general democratic principles and their application to specific positively and negatively evaluated groups.