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It frustrates me that people mistake the political compass meme for a thing that actually exists. It's more complex than "left" vs. "right" and authoritarian v

It frustrates me that people mistake the political compass meme for a thing that actually exists. It's more complex than "left" vs. "right" and authoritarian vs. libertarian. Compressing politics down to literally two dimensions is a disservice to any political discussion.

arminiusreturns 6y ago
What better way is there to condense the political "spectrum" into an easily digestable product? Of course it's not perfect by any stretch, but the multi-axis charts are much more useful than the line-chart of left right most people tend to talk about. It's certainly much more than just a "meme" that doesn't exist. From The Decision Lab: "A single-axis model conflates liberal and conservative ideologies with right-wing and left-wing stances, excluding the nuances that can exist in someone’s political ideals. Single-axis models like the right/left-wing divide have been criticized for being too simple and reductionist, and it has been suggested that the right/left divide only captures economic issues but that it need not be reflective of one’s social political identity.2 Instead of having to have left-wing mean liberal and right-wing mean conservative, the political compass proposes that we are better off measuring political ideologies on two separate axes: a right/left economic axis and an authoritarian/libertarian axis.3 With such a model, it would be possible for someone to be right-wing and libertarian, or left-wing and authoritarian; none of the views are made mutually exclusive with another. The political compass proposes this alternative model because research has suggested that one’s economic views do not always align with their overall political identity, and therefore, the model would allow people to more accurately understand where they stand in relation to other views, which could mean a less polarized political landscape." [1] https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guides/test/political-compass/ https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guides/test/political-c...
swebs 6y ago
At least we can agree that a two dimensional spectrum is infinitely better than a one dimensional spectrum. Especially when terms such as "left" and "right" are incredibly vaguely defined and differ greatly based on who you're talking to.

arminiusreturns 6y ago

What better way is there to condense the political "spectrum" into an easily digestable product? Of course it's not perfect by any stretch, but the multi-axis charts are much more useful than the line-chart of left right most people tend to talk about. It's certainly much more than just a "meme" that doesn't exist. From The Decision Lab: "A single-axis model conflates liberal and conservative ideologies with right-wing and left-wing stances, excluding the nuances that can exist in someone’s political ideals. Single-axis models like the right/left-wing divide have been criticized for being too simple and reductionist, and it has been suggested that the right/left divide only captures economic issues but that it need not be reflective of one’s social political identity.2 Instead of having to have left-wing mean liberal and right-wing mean conservative, the political compass proposes that we are better off measuring political ideologies on two separate axes: a right/left economic axis and an authoritarian/libertarian axis.3 With such a model, it would be possible for someone to be right-wing and libertarian, or left-wing and authoritarian; none of the views are made mutually exclusive with another. The political compass proposes this alternative model because research has suggested that one’s economic views do not always align with their overall political identity, and therefore, the model would allow people to more accurately understand where they stand in relation to other views, which could mean a less polarized political landscape." [1] https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guides/test/political-compass/ https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guides/test/political-c...

swebs 6y ago

At least we can agree that a two dimensional spectrum is infinitely better than a one dimensional spectrum. Especially when terms such as "left" and "right" are incredibly vaguely defined and differ greatly based on who you're talking to.