What is the Difference Between Tolerance and Acceptance

The main difference between tolerance and acceptance is that acceptance indicates a greater sense of reception and freedom for others to be themselves.

Tolerance and acceptance are two qualities needed for a diverse society. Most people assume that tolerance and acceptance mean the same, but they are not synonyms. Tolerance is your ability or willingness to endure the existence of opinions or behaviour you dislike or disagree with. Acceptance, on the other hand, is assenting and embracing someone or something you don’t like, without protesting and without trying to change them.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Tolerance 
     – Definition, Characteristics
2. What is Acceptance
     – Definition, Characteristics, Example
3. What is the Relationship Between Tolerance and Acceptance
     – Outline of Common Features
4. What is the Difference Between Tolerance and Acceptance
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

Acceptance, Diversity, Tolerance

What is Tolerance

Tolerance is the willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour we dislike or disagree with. In other words, it refers to showing a neutral or objective attitude towards those who are different from you. These differences may include religion, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, education, etc.

Figure 01: Acceptance is Better than Tolerance

Although most of us assume that tolerance is a positive quality, it is a kind of passive resignation. You tolerate someone because you don’t have the power to change him, and you may decide to remain polite to preserve peace. Tolerance also indicates that you have no choice but to put up with a person or situation you don’t like.  However, tolerance is better than open aggression or violence towards those who are different.

What is Acceptance

The noun acceptance has various meanings. However, in this article, we are concerned with one particular meaning – an individual’s assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition (usually a negative or unpleasant one) without protesting it or trying to changing it. In this sense, acceptance is similar to tolerance; however, they are not synonyms. This is because acceptance goes beyond tolerance.

Tolerance is a kind of passive resignation. For example, when you tolerate someone, you might dislike or disagree with someone, but you will keep quiet and won’t show open dislike or aggression.  However, when you accept someone, you’ll try to get rid of your dislike, and start to put yourself in the other’s position and actively try to understand the other. This is the difference between tolerance and acceptance. Moreover, you can tolerate something without accepting it, but cannot accept something without tolerating it.

Figure 02: Acceptance of Cohabitation

Furthermore, when compared to tolerance, acceptance indicates a greater sense of reception and freedom for others to be themselves. It’s also important to note that there are two types of acceptance as self- acceptance and social acceptance. Self-acceptance is one’s own satisfaction with oneself, while social acceptance is accepting the differences and diversity in others in society.

Relationship Between Tolerance and Acceptance

• Acceptance extends beyond tolerance.
• You cannot accept something without tolerating, but you can tolerate something without accepting it.

Difference Between Tolerance and Acceptance

Definition

Tolerance is an individual’s willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour he dislikes or disagrees with, but acceptance is an individual’s assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition (usually a negative or unpleasant one) without protesting it or trying to changing it.

Extent

Tolerance is a kind of passive resignation, while acceptance goes beyond tolerance.

Dislike

We might tolerate a person we dislike, but when we accept someone, we actively try to get rid of the dislike.

Change

We tolerate something we want to change but don’t have the power to change. In other words, we tolerate it because we have no option. However, in acceptance, we embrace things and show no resistance.

Conclusion

Tolerance is your willingness to endure the existence of opinions or behaviour you dislike or disagree with. Acceptance, on the other hand, is assenting and embracing someone or something you don’t like, without protesting and without trying to change them. You can tolerate something without accepting it, but cannot accept something without tolerating it. Thus, this is the difference between tolerance and acceptance.

Reference:

1. Shires, Quentin. “What Is Tolerance? – Definition, Types & Examples.” Study.com, Available here.
2. Fish M, Jefferson. “Tolerance, Acceptance, Understanding.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “968458” (CC0) via Pixabay
2. “Percentage Reporting living together as acceptable option” By Rcragun – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia