4 ms·

I'm almost always wary of someone labelling discourse as left-right, especially a sociology professor.

• f8f6dhdherb 5y ago
  Is that because sociologists overwhelmingly lean left so emphasizing their political leanings highlights the biased nature of the field that's perpetuated by professionals like you who have a stake in the general public viewing the field as non-partisan?
• cycomanic 5y ago
  To explain my reasoning (the person responding to me seem to question my motives). Categorizing things simply into "left/right" and saying "the left/right" does this or that... Grossly simplifies complex issues and paints a world in black and white that is really many shades of gray. I lived primarily in places with multiparty systems and while they can generally can be put on a rough spectrum from right to left, positions on particular issues can vary significantly from that. Moreover, left and right are relative measures so when I read about some "far left" policy in the US, that often is considered a stance of the moderate right of centre parties here. Similarly some of the individual freedom stances of the "right" in the US have more overlap with parties on the left side of the spectrum here. All that to say, that the world is more complicated than left and right and I expect a sociology professor to be aware of the nuance, instead of peddle to the politics.