Do you consider the Left/Right divide to be more economic or social/cultural?

[Tooting Carmen]

In this thread of mine: https://www.theapricity.com/forum/sh...ly-State-owned

I am taken aback by the number of self-declared conservatives and right-wingers who nevertheless support widespread State ownership and intervention in the economy, which at least from a modern Anglo-American perspective is anathema. Therefore, do you understand 'right-wing' and 'left-wing' to refer more to your views regarding economic issues, or social and cultural issues?

[Tenma de Pegasus]

More social/cultural. In my class there are some or many well off people that defend PT party and Lula.

[Joso]

Left and Right are two sides of the same coin. I prefer anarcho-capitalism.

[Tooting Carmen]

Left and Right are two sides of the same coin. I prefer anarcho-capitalism.

Given its emphasis on private ownership and profit, I'd definitely classify anarcho-capitalism as more right-wing than left-wing. However, the point is that it is very out of step with how many mainstream right-wingers think, especially outside the Anglosphere.

[JohnSmith]

It is definitely not economic.

[Tooting Carmen]

More social/cultural. In my class there are some or many well off people that defend PT party and Lula.

So for you, the maintenance of order, family and tradition are more important than having a heavily privatised, market-oriented economy?

[JMack]

All of them. But I don't think ''right-wing'' or ''left-wing'' are definitive terms. They are generalizations we use to encapsulate many things which are highly volatile.

I think there are 4 main possibilities in ''Western'' or westernized places:

1 -Culturally ''conservative'' and politically and economically liberal (general Anglo-American Right and their puppets elsewhere, like Pinochet and Bolsonaro). Due to Anglo-American hegemony after WWII this is what most people understand as ''right-wing''.

2- Culturally and politically liberal and economically anti-liberal/statist. This is what most average leftists are, they are full on liberal cultural agenda and generally oppose heavily any iliberal/anti-liberal policies regarding sexuality, race, ''muh freedom'', all kinds of obscenity and similar stuff. Despite overlaping with Anglo conservatives in defense of democracy and political establishment (representative democracy, ''rule of law'' etc.) somehow they think they are miles away from them.

These first two options are the most ''respectable'' nowadays and are the mainstream in pretty much all of the ''democratic'' world.

3- Economically anti-liberal, politically anti-liberal, socially more or less liberal depending on the question. This is where most socialist states were before the 90s. Opposing heavily the anglo ways of organizing the economy and also being sometimes against some of the culturally liberal trends of the West like feminism and homosexuality. Castro Cuba and USSR are good examples.

4- Economically anti-liberal, politically reactionary, socially conservative. This is the traditional Right in Europe, where suspicion of free-market/free-trade ideology was always high and distrust for American things was also equally high. These are the so-called Third-Positionists, Fascists, Nazis, Integralists, Falangists etc. They overlap way more with authoritarian socialism than with Anglo-American right-wing. The main difference is that socialism has a progressive narrative about the world history and reactionaries a regressive one.

[JMack]

Ah, I forgot about the Libertarians who are generally liberal in ALL the stances: economy, politics and cultural issues. They are absolute thrash in my world view.

[Tooting Carmen]

Ah, I forgot about the Libertarians who are generally liberal in ALL the stances: economy, politics and cultural issues. They are absolute thrash in my world view.

But they're very much a minority and an irrelevance all over the world, although slightly more prominent and numerous in the Anglosphere than elsewhere.

[Mingle]

Social/cultural by far.