The Myth of “Left vs Right” in Politics

By Ellis Asher

Image Credit: Javier Allegue Barros - Unsplash “The left vs the right,” it’s been the underlying issue in mainstream politics for the past 200+ years.

You will often hear members of parliament refer to their opposition’s policy as “leftist” or “right-wing,” but is it really true that there are only two ways a person can lean politically?

Often with each topic there will be a set of positions that an individual could take on it. Framing issues as a left-right issue means that we often group the responses that fit into one of two camps. Those that would create progress and equity are supported as a form of left-wing policy, whilst those that are traditional and would create order are viewed as right-wing approaches.

So, what about the responses to issues that don’t fit?

Let’s look at two political movements that are both labelled as right-wing. The Conservative Party, and UKIP.

According to a London School of Economics article, in 2015 many UKIP voters supported the kind of proposed policy that would impose restrictions on markets and industry in order to save workers' jobs, whereas the Conservative Party is the only party whose base reaches into those who support free-market economic policy, with little government interference.

With this in mind, is it time to rethink the way we describe our political spectrum?

Some digital communities have already begun adapting to different models.

One model, being popularised via social media due to its shareability, is the “political compass” (from the website of the same name), and all the subsequent variants it has spawned.

The political compass, and its accompanying test add a second axis, libertarianism vs authoritarianism to the spectrum, creating a 4 square grid, in which your overall views on individual issues are weighed against each other via survey. Once complete, a small dot, representing your beliefs, is placed within one of these squares, for you to compare with others.

Whilst no survey based test is going to be accurate, as the questions will always be open to interpretation and bias, could a double axis grid would serve as a much better alternative to what we currently have?

With social media influencing our political landscape more than ever before, is it time that we finally let go of the myth of the “left vs right”?