Tolerance

Tendencies in the movement of society towards the processes of globalization and integration, observed throughout the world, actualize the problem of tolerance and the interethnic harmony. This topic is especially important for the multi-ethnic Kazakhstan society. Tolerance becomes a direct and necessary condition for an effective social and cultural strategy for the modernization of society.

There is an urgent problem in the new style of communication and behavior, in the choice of behavioral guidelines and cultural values of the new content, contributing to the harmonization of relations in modern society.

Modern education is of particular importance for the formation of policies and principles of tolerance, as it acts as a model for building intercultural, interethnic, interreligious relations in the course of joint learning and the formation of a multicultural education system. As B. S. Gershunsky told, «training of tolerance in human relations, formation of the mentality of tolerance is the most important strategic task of education in the 21st century» [40].

The problem of attitude to another culture, not similar to one's own, has ancient roots. The Chinese thinker Confucius embodied the solution to the problems of human compatibility in one single phrase that became the «golden rule» of morality: «Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself».

The ideas of humanism and tolerant relations between nations were reflected in the philosophical and pedagogical views of Jan Amos Comenius, and then, in the views of the Enlightenment philosophers J. J. Rousseau, I. Kant. John Locke, Voltaire, L. N. Tolstoy, Abai Kunanbaev and other prominent supporters of the proclamation of tolerance in the society of the past.

The concept of «tolerance» (from the Latin Tolerantiа - patience, endurance) is interpreted in many dictionaries as «tolerance». The UN international document «Declaration of Principles of Tolerance» (1995) interprets the essence of tolerance as «respect, acceptance and correct understanding of the whole diversity of cultures, forms of self-expression and manifestation of human individuality»

The document notes that «tolerance is not a concession, indulgence or connivance, but, above all, an active attitude towards reality, formed on the basis of the recognition of universal human rights and freedoms” [41].

A significant contribution to the formation of the doctrine of tolerance was made by the theoretical positions and practical studies of B. Z. Vulfov, V. N. Galyapina, B. S. Gershunsky, V. N. Gurov, L. A. Drobizheva, V. A. Lektorsky, G. I. Soldatova, T. G. Stefanenko, V. A. Tishkova, Z. F. Mubinova, S. S. Aubakirova, Ismagambetova Z. N., Karabaeva A. G. and others. Despite the common main idea in the theory of tolerance there are conceptual approaches that interpret this phenomenon in different interpretations.

1. A. Lektorsky in the article «About Tolerance, Pluralism and Criticism» considers four models of tolerance: tolerance as indifference, tolerance as the impossibility of mutual understanding, tolerance as condescension, tolerance as respect for other people, their cultures, views, beliefs, recognition of their dissimilarity and the desire for interaction [42, p.46-54].

Psychologists, revealing the essence of the ethnic tolerance, distinguish mainly three of its types, characterizing tolerance as liberality, accompanied by negative emotions, as humility without a negative manifestation of emotions, and as a value and the possibility of mutual enrichment and interaction.

1. G. Krysko understands ethnic tolerance as «the ability of a person to show tolerance for the unfamiliar lifestyle of representatives of other ethnic communities, their behavior, national traditions, customs, feelings, opinions, ideas, beliefs, etc.» [43, p. 302].

Many researchers (Z. F. Mubinova, E. I. Shlyagina, N. M. Lebedeva and others) believe that the ethnic tolerance should be considered in direct connection with the categories of «the ethnic consciousness» and «the self-consciousness», «the ethnic identity», «the ethnocultural competence», «mentality» and other characteristics of ethnopsychological and ethnocultural processes

According to the definition of academician V. A. Tishkov, tolerance is «a personal or social characteristic that implies the realization that the world and the social environment are multidimensional, and therefore the views on this world are different and cannot and should not be reduced to uniformity or in someone's favor» [44, p. 259]. The scientist notes that tolerance finds its expression in two areas: at the psychological level - as an internal setting and at the political level - as a norm.

In the first case, tolerance should be in the nature of a voluntary individual choice: it is not imposed, but acquired through education, information and personal life experience. In the second, it is an active position of self-restraint, liberality in the disagreement of the subjects.

Scientists Aubakirova S. S., Ismagambetova Z. N., Karabaeva A. G., analyzing tolerance as a social, intellectual and moral principle of the culture of the nation and a human being, distinguish its main components: tolerance (in relation to religion – religious tolerance), mercy, sympathy, personal interest, cultural sensitivity, cultural empathy, deep understanding [45].

1. Sh. Mukhtarova defines the ethnic tolerance as an integral psychological characteristic, manifested in the active moral attitude of the individual and the ethnic community to the recognition, acceptance, respect and understanding of the national identity of other people in the process of interethnic interaction of subjects [46].
2. Aimaganbetova considers tolerance as a person's ability to show tolerance for the unfamiliar lifestyle of representatives of other ethnic communities, their behavior, national traditions, customs, feelings, opinions, beliefs, as well as endurance, mental stability [47, 175].

So, based on the foregoing, we see the specifics of tolerance as a sociocultural phenomenon:

‒ it is a necessary condition for survival, in order to preserve the identity and worldview of a particular cultural group;

‒ it is an intercultural dialogue, on the basis of which the peaceful coexistence of different cultures and religions is possible;

‒ it is the ability to understand the main thing not only in one's own, but also in another culture, to see value principles in someone else's faith, to isolate ideological justifications that do not contradict intellectual and moral values.

The implementation of a democratic and humanistic education strategy for any ethnic group, region, state is impossible without   formation of the interethnic tolerance. The education system acts as a factor in the unity of peoples, capable of solving the problem of educating a tolerant consciousness among the younger generation.