Political Ideology Simplified

Understanding the Basics of Political Ideology

Most political positions can be described using a limited set of political terms related to classical and social liberalism and conservatism.

These terms include: classical or social liberal and conservative, left-wing and right-wing, authoritarian and non-authoritarian, and populist and elitist.

Beyond this, terms that describe economic positions, like socialist and capitalist or free-trade and protectionist, terms that describe stances on the peoples’ relation to government, like “small d and r” democrat and republican, terms that describe social positions, like humanist and individualist, are useful descriptors in terms of political ideology as well.

In other words, we can use a few key terms that describe general ideology, paired with a few key terms that describe ideology pertaining to major aspects of politics like issues of state, social issues, and economic issues, to describe basic ideology. Then we can pair that all with single-voter issue stances, and thus paint a complex and accurate picture of a position.

While there are many different ideological positions that relate back to the aforementioned terms which help describe a give political ideology (for example internationalist vs. nationalist, globalist vs. nativist, individualist vs. collectivist, etc), the general idea of this page will be to focus on the most general and broad of categories (like left and right, and liberal and conservative).

Bottomline: To describe a given political ideology, we must consider general political positions and specific stances on key social issues, economic issues, and issues of state. We can then from there denote single-voter issue stances. Then pair this all to paint a complete and accurate per-issue picture (which can then, as a whole, be described by terms like left-wing and right-wing or liberal and conservative). We cover all of that below in as simple terms as possible.

Key Aspects of Political Ideology

Here are some key points that will help you better understand political ideology:

  • People tend to have for or against stances on single issues. For example, a person is generally for an income tax, or against one.
  • A person thus will tend to have a range of different stances on a range of single issues.
  • A person’s stances will be affected by their political affiliation and identity. In other words, their party and others who share their politics will help shape their view.
  • A person’s total view is their political ideology.
  • How we describe a person’s political ideology depends on what stances they take.
  • If a person favors the people, they can be described as populist, if they favor the elite, they can be described as elitist.
  • If a person favors liberty, they can be described as liberal, if a person favors authority and order in the state, they can be described as conservative. Or more specifically, classically liberal or classically conservative respectively. These forms are called “classical” because they were the first notable versions that describe the classical political views from the mid-1600s to mid-1800s.
  • If a person favors social equality and justice, they can be described as liberal, if a person favors traditional values and opposes equality-minded social reforms (and typically the associated regulation and spending), they can be described as conservative. Or more specifically, socially liberal or socially conservative respectively.
  • If a person is populist, classically liberal, or socially liberal, even if they are otherwise right-wing or conservative, they can be described as left-wing (or having left-wing qualities in the case where they are otherwise conservative). If a person is elitist, classically conservative, or socially conservative, even if they are otherwise left-wing or liberal, they can be described as right-wing (or having right-wing qualities in the case where they are otherwise liberal).
  • With that in mind, a “centered” stance is any stance in-between left or right, or liberal or conservative. This is different from ideologies with “mixed” stances. For example, communism and fascism mix left-right stances in extreme ways, and are not well described as “centrist.” Centered is more like classical “small r” republicanism.
  • Thus, people’s political ideologies are informed by their own stances on single-issues and party stances, and these ideologies can be described by the terms classical or social liberal or conservative, left-wing or right-wing, authoritarian or non-authoritarian, and populist or elitist.
  • Meanwhile, there are many different issues that have left-right, liberal-conservative, populist-elitist, authoritarian-non-authoritarian aspects that are important to a political view. These include the very important issue economics.
  • In general all stances on specific issues relate back to the primary terms we have already used. For example, if a person believes in free-markets, they believe in liberty in markets… classical liberalism. Going issue by issue would take our simple page and make it complex. So instead of doing that, consider the following left-right chart to see where different positions fall.

TIP: Generally, one can consider liberal and left as one on the chart below, likewise they can consider conservative and right as one. Meanwhile, any left-wing or right-wing position can be authoritative or not, but generally if it is authoritative or elite it is toward the right in some ways, and if it is non-authoritative and populist it is toward the left in some ways.

Paradigms / Main Thesis / Sphere of Action Extreme Left Thesis / Antithesis Left The Left-Right Mean Right Extreme Right Thesis / Antithesis
Liberty Extreme Liberty Favoring Liberty Balanced Liberty Favoring Authority Extreme Authority
Equality Extreme Equality Favoring Equality Balanced Equality Favoring Social Hierarchy Extreme Social Hierarchy
Classical Government Type Anarchy (Total Liberty and Equality) Democracy Mixed-Republic Aristocracy Tyranny (Total Authority and Social Hierarchy)
Political Ideology in terms of liberty. Radical Classical Liberalism Moderate Classical Liberalism Centrism Moderate Classical Conservatism Absolutist Classical Conservatism
Political Ideology in terms of equality. Pure Social Liberalism Moderate Social Liberalism Centrism Moderate Social Hierarchy Absolutist Social Hierarchy
Economy in terms of liberty. Free Market Lightly Regulated Market Mixed-Economy Tightly Controlled Economy Economy Controlled by the One or Very Few (Centrally Planned or Oligarchy)
Social Programs in terms of equality. Robust Social Welfare Some Social Welfare Moderate Social Welfare Limited Social Welfare No Social Welfare
Trade in terms of collectivism. Globalism and Free Trade Favors Free Trade Mixed-Trade Favors the Nation Nativism and Protectionism
Natural Rights in terms of equality. Social Collectivism Favors the Collective Mixed-Social Equality Favors Individual Authority Authoritative Individualism
Natural Rights in terms of liberty. Individual Liberty Favors Individual Liberty Mixed- Individual Liberty Favors Collective Authority Authoritative Collectivism

Author: Thomas DeMichele

Thomas DeMichele is the content creator behind ObamaCareFacts.com, FactMyth.com, CryptocurrencyFacts.com, and other DogMediaSolutions.com and Massive Dog properties. He also contributes to MakerDAO and other cryptocurrency-based projects. Tom's focus in all...

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I feel it needs a little tweaking. I understand that the extreme left harbors both Anarchist, Socialist, advocates for the Nordic Model, etc. But according to your table, the extreme left advocates for both Anarchy AND a robust Welfare program? That’d be confusing to somebody that hasn’t studied this before.

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The traditional left – right spectrum is far too narrow to adequately explain the varieties of political ideology. The Nolan chart, having 2 axes instead of just 1, does a better job (although perhaps not a perfect job) of charting ideologies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Chart

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Sorry to say but the table above has totally screwed up classifying Economics in terms of liberty. The reason for your mistakeis that you are mistaking modern liberalism (which is left wing and legitimizes the role of government in the economy) with classical or neo-liberalism (right wing – which subscribes to an ideology of free markets, even to the extent of justifying monopoly and oligarchic rule). How about this breakout?…

Extreme leftist: State direction of economics (example is USSR and – to a lesser extent due to shift towards market economy – mainland “Communist” China. State enterprises are allowed. Encompasses both state socialism and state capitalism (China version).

Left : Mixed economy, provides (sometimes with private sector) welfare state social safety net. Social Democracy (European style)

Middle: Market based economy, but recognizes necesity of govt as regulator and referee to prevent unfair use or accumulation of market power. Teddy Roosevelt to Pre-Reagan economy in US. (NB: govt institutions are at risk of regulatory capture since govt role in economic life isn’t viewed by all as legitimate or conducive to efficiency, leading to…)

Right: Small government, ineffective regulatory capabilities, regulatory capture by free market conservatives.. Free market operates mostly unfettered by government constraints, leading to concentration of capital and consolidation of industries, leading to…

Extreme Right: Unconstrained ideology of free markets justifies (and leads to) concentration of capital into hands of few – oligarchy. Government role becomes protection of property rights, provide for the common defense (and war profiteering). Examples are fascist states and famous right wing governments in Europe and South America.

Also, your discussion of populism is pretty far off too. Populists can be and are (currently, through the rise of Pres Trump) right wing. Their being right wing is based on the set of beliefs to which they subscribe (conservative, reactionary, nativist) independently of how appeals are made to them “through populist appeals to their grevances” for instance Left wing populism is possible, and the Sanders campaign was an example of that.

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