Delivering Tolerance

How Unintended Institutional Inclusion Reduces Prejudice

Chagai M. Weiss

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9780691263083
  9780691263090
• eBook ISBN:
  9780691288529
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political History & Theory
• Index: Politics & International Relations

A new theory of prejudice reduction, supported by rigorous evidence, arguing that public institutions and the people within them can improve intergroup relations in conflict-ridden societies

Decades of social science research focuses on reducing prejudice, which is considered an impediment to intergroup cooperation. Reducing prejudice is notoriously challenging, however, because it is durable and because it motivates avoidance of experiences that would improve intergroup relations. In Delivering Tolerance, Chagai Weiss develops a theory of prejudice reduction through public institutions. Weiss argues that instrumental, and often unintended, minority inclusion in public institutions that provide essential services—including schools, hospitals, and police forces—can facilitate various forms of exposure to out-group service providers that reduces prejudice at scale. Overcoming the challenges of both durability and avoidance, such exposure is especially persuasive in shifting attitudes toward minorities.

To test his theory, Weiss examines what is perhaps the most extreme, prominent, and intractable example of group conflict—the relationship of Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI). He finds that Israelis’ brief yet meaningful interactions with PCI doctors reduce prejudice, and that information about the rate of PCI inclusion in Israeli healthcare institutions reduces intergroup animosity. He also shows that patterns of prejudice reduction generalize beyond the Israeli case of healthcare institutions, examining other institutional domains and examples of inclusion dynamics in the United States and Germany. Reducing prejudice is discouragingly difficult, but Weiss’s account reveals how institutions and the people within them can improve intergroup relations in conflict-ridden societies.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Advance Praise for Delivering Tolerance
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue
• 1. Introduction
• 2. A Theory of Prejudice Reduction Through Public Institutions
• 3. Intergroup Relations and Prejudice in Israel
• 4. Diversity and Inclusion in Israeli Public Institutions
• 5. PCI Doctors, Jewish Patients, and Prejudice Reduction
• 6. Information About PCI Inclusion and Prejudice Reduction
• 7. Paths to Inclusion and Prejudice Reduction
• 8. Inclusion and Prejudice Reduction Beyond Israeli Health Care Institutions
• 9. Conclusion
• Appendix A. Pre-Analysis Plans and IRB Information
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index