The dangers of selective tolerance

PICKY PHILANTHROPY Our willingness to embrace and support some but not others betrays an absence of universal charity in Irish society.

Opinion
MicheΡl MacGréil, SJ

When a person has spent most of one’s adult life (as I have since 1963) studying, researching, lecturing and publishing on the subject of social justice, predjudice and tolerance, concern for the current state of pluralism in Irish society is worrying. The rise of economic success and the advance of science and information technology have failed, as far as I can see, to create a universal and integrated pluralist society in Ireland.
Intergrated pluralism may be defined as the recognition of and support for the cultural, personal, religious and social differences of people on the basis of total intergroup equality. The failure of universal and intergrated pluralism is not restricted to Ireland only. It seems, for instance, to extend to many of the members of the European Union with their fortress disposition towards fleeing migrants.
Examples of the failure of universal and integrated pluralism in Ireland includes our prejudice towards and discrimination against our Travelling People, which is a case of ‘Irish apartheid’. Our reluctance to welcome refugees into some of our neighbourhoods in recent times sadly reflects our level of selective tolerance and the absence of universal charity.
It is time for community, political, religious and social leaders to re-examine and take note of what appears to be a growing level of prejudice towards and intolerance of certain minorities in a country that is becoming more socially and culturally diverse. The findings of three major surveys which I directed in 1972-73, 1988-89, and 2007-08 trace the changes in Irish prejudice over a period of 35 years. (See ‘Prejudice and Tolerance in Ireland’ (1977), ‘Prejudice in Ireland Revisited’ (1996) and ‘Pluralism and Diversity in Ireland’ (2011), where the findings of the three surveys are published.)
Recent advances in intergroup tolerance in Ireland in certain personnel areas – ie gender and sexual-orientation – are to be welcomed. Regretfully, such progress does not seem to have taken place in the areas of ethnic, racial, religious and social-class groups or categories. Selective tolerance can co-exist with selective prejudice and discrimination!
Most students of intergroup relations tell us favourable contact is the most effective way to replace prejudice with tolerance. To enable such contact to happen, it is necessary to enlighten the people, especially the young, of the problem of prejudice.
In my opinion, a prejudice exposed is a prejudice undermined. Hence the importance of education at its informal level (in the home, club etc) and in the formal system or curriculum (in our schools and colleges). It seems to me that intergroup relations should be a core subject in the senior cycle of the second-level and the third-level undergraduate cycle.
One of the most disappointing and unexpected findings of my 2007-08 national survey of social prejudice was the weakening of the link between educational achievement and social tolerance. This raises serious questions in relation to the inadequacy of the current education curriculum. Has it become too pragmatic and culturally indifferent?
The challenge facing Irish society in achieving its goal of universal and integrated pluralism is serious. Our citizens and immigrants are becoming more diverse. It is time for wise reflection and decisive action. Minority rights legislation needs to be updated. Let us aspire to bring about a truly integrated pluralist Ireland.