| Summary: | Modern liberal democracies are a composition of multi-ethnic and multi-cultural
groups vying for recognition and political participation. The challenge faced by liberalism
today remains the question of difference. How to articulate, respond to and incorporate
difference within the liberal polity. The liberal concept of toleration is thought to be a
solution to the conflict generated by difference; arising out of social circumstances involving
disapproval, toleration ensures that diapproval by those in a positon to act upon it, refrain
from interference. But is the practice of toleration, with its emphasis on individual action and
conduct an appropriate response to difference acted out within the social struggle that is
liberal politics? An emerging group of social movements, bringing their voices to the public
sphere of liberal politics, are refusing to leave their cultural, ethnic, linguistic and gendered
differences outside the realm of political negotiation. These movements encompass current
struggles for equality and social justice, and as such, theirs are demands requiring more than
the practice of toleration. Beginning with the argument for religious toleration articulated by
John Locke, followed by the argument for liberty of John Stuart Mill, I trace the origins of a
current model of toleration in contemporary liberal democracies. Toleration and its focus on
individualism in keeping with the liberal tradition, is justified by the liberal principles of
impartiality and pluralism. This individualist conception promotes and encourages a specific,
liberal subjectivity, placing the justifications of state neutrality and pluralism in question.
Analyzing the concept of a 'social movement', the composition and goals which make it a
movement as such, lead to the question of justice and what that encompasses. Does
toleration as a response to group difference lead to a just and equitable society? The
emergence of new political subjects requires a new articulation of the principles and practices
upholding a liberal democratic polity. Toleration as the liberal reaction to difference is an
inadequate response to demands for recognition, participation and equality. === Arts, Faculty of === Political Science, Department of === Graduate
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