Economic Left/Right: -6.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.05
Between Chomsky and Sanders on the chart.
No surprise there. 
2 Likes
Your Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: -7.13
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.31
personalised chart
I haven’t done this one, but one of these tests had some leaning questions. Not as blatant as “do you oppose regulation or do you support enforcing rules with state violence,” but enough that I knew how I was supposed to answer.
ETA:
@Purplecat, I was probably thinking of the Nolan chart. I’m thinking it was the same deal with the “world’s smallest,” the one that’s printed on a business card, but that impression may have had just as much to do with the person who was handing them out.
3 Likes
That test is clearly designed to make you go towards Libertarian. Also, I found myself mostly wanting to say “It depends” or “Sometimes”. I agree that this is a better test than a pure Left - Right spectrum, but I think adding one more dimension, might not be enough.
4 Likes
Right by Bernie Sanders, my man!
2 Likes
Imagine you are Mussolini and see where you would be on the economic left/right axis.
See here if not familiar: http://share.nanjing-school.com/dphistory/files/2015/09/Mussolini-Economic-Policy-2d09q14.pdf
It doesn’t work on me then.
The actual evidence from it’s history is that the Political Compass wants you to vote for “Old Labour”, which is currently embodied in Jeremy Corbyn. They really hated Tony Blair from a left wing perspective.
2 Likes
It’s still BS though, because the test is using intrinsic metrics to determine your position, while not disclosing what sort of extrinsic metrics they’re using to determine where all of these other people would have placed (I’m pretty sure neither Chomsky, HRC, nor Kropotkin have taken this test.) It’s scientistic agitprop aimed at a particular audience that’s gullible enough to believe that their political orientation can collapse down to two axis.
3 Likes
Me? You haven’t been here very long.
Also, those of us weirdos who like liberal-democratic institutions like rule of law and independent judiciaries.
Or for pointing out that extremes of anarchy or authoritarianism lead to some form of feudalism/monarchism.
She’s in the correct quadrant, but her position compared to Il Douche or May is seriously off.
Members of the DNC establishment, sure – Third-Way adherents of neoliberalism-lite with a sheen of social liberalism. That’s a very different thing from American progressives (who would, like the people here who take the test and like me, tend to cluster around Sanders).
The Overton Window has definitely shifted to a ridiculous point in America where (as I said elsewhere) we’re left with a duopoly system consisting of what the rest of the OECD world would consider a centre-right party and a reality-challenged right-wing authoritarian party. It does get confusing when trying to apply it across historical time and geographic space.
More confusing, though, is the labelling of the axes, which are rough enough as it is. The economic one would more accurately reflect the difference between a command economy and a laissez-faire one, and the social one would make a distinction between authoritarianism and individualism. That wouldn’t suit the American Libertarians who constantly abuse this test, but it would take it beyond the context of the outdated British political terminology described by @the_borderer .
1 Like
I discovered the Political Compass website in 2003 and took the test back then:
Similar tests at two other websites over the years confirmed that centrist positioning, but when I repeated the test today I find myself positioned further left and lower:
I don’t know whether that degree of change is statistically significant. Probably not. But I do find it gratifying that my dot overlaps the cartoon of Bernie Sanders.
4 Likes
The opposite of individualism is collectivism, not authoritarianism. Anarcho-communists are neither individualist or authoritarian, they describe themselves as voluntary collectivists.
It’s not outdated if it is in current use, but let’s not turn this into a British English vs American English argument.
6 Likes
For those interested in tests like this, a similar tool has been posted at the Pew Research Center since at least 2012. Instead of placing you in a quadrant, the survey assigns you to a Political Typology group, using these categories:
2 Likes
I considered using “collectivism” instead, but “authoritarianism” better reflects the question of what degree of autonomy an average person is accorded by the system. In practise neither Stalin nor Hitler were collectivists.
I was under the impression that American Libertarians had spoiled the term for everyone a while back. Glad to hear otherwise. I maintain that if this tool is going to be applied outside early 21st century Britain the labels need to be changed to more universal terms.
2 Likes
Note this is specific to contemporary America, in contrast to the Political Compass. Since it’s a new test with only 17 questions I took it and found myself, unsurprisingly, in the Solid Liberals category along with 16% of the public.
[the flags test gave me a Justice-Humanity-Equality outcome. Political Compass is Economic Left/Right: -5.38, Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.1 (I really should be closer to Tom Paine, but that’s the Overton Window for you)]
1 Like
Or as, Gore Vidal would have said, one political party with two right wings.
4 Likes
According to my financial analyst friend who pro bonos me for Morgan Stanley I am a “fiscal conservative”.
…have embraced this and now preface my demands that we ought be dismantling racism, capitalism, patriarchy and the state with “Speaking as a fiscal conservative…” 
6 Likes
See also: The Glossary
As for the Political Compass:
Economic Left/Right: -4.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.41
3 Likes
I get the same thing from my Wall Street friends and clients, but a “financial conservative” is a different thing from a “fiscal conservative” or an “economic conservative.” Still, most conservatives are ignorant enough about the distinctions that they’re easily flummoxed when you make your demands.
4 Likes
I was likewise frustrated by the questions. For example, one was about “some criminals” not being able to be rehabilitated. I’m sure that the number of these is strictly positive; hence “some”. However, “some” isn’t the same as “large enough proportion to decide policy”. If I go by what I think that they actually mean, I’m another left liberal. If I go by precise meanings, I tend toward the dead center. (I didn’t do that on this one, but I did on one with the flags.)
3 Likes
