When the rubber meets the road: effects of urban and regional residence on principle and implementation measures of racial tolerance

Borrowing from the classical theories of Wirth and Stouffer and the more contemporary work of Tuch, we account for racial tolerance as a function of urban and regional residence. We add to the dialogue by including “implementation” questions in addition to “principle” questions as defined by Schuman, Steeh, Bobo, and Krysan to assess racial tolerance by urbanism and region over time with data extracted from the National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey. These data are randomly drawn samples of the non-institutionalized US population of 18 years of age and older for years between 1972 and 1996. Findings suggest a general shift toward greater tolerance with a caveat. The phrase, “when the rubber meets the road” depicts an earnest commitment to actions that express tolerance and we do indeed find different patterns when analyzing principle and implementation questions. This disparity is steadier for the urban/non-urban comparisons in which the gap in tolerance persists regardless of question type (principle or implementation). This finding corroborates Tuch's earlier predictions. Conversely, the impact of region across time varies by question type. Although strides toward racial tolerance are observed in general over time, Southerners and rural residents still appear to lag behind their counterparts. These findings persist across time, across different measures of tolerance, and when multiple related factors such as education and income are taken into consideration.