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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Beyond ‘Left’ and ‘Right’? The Role of Culture and Context in Young People’s Understanding of Ideology

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In this chapter, new comparative data from the MYPLACE survey is drawn on to explore how different ideological attitudes are linked to self-placement on the conventional 0–10 left–right political scale and, thus, shed light on what the concept of ‘left’ and ‘right’ means to young people today. It is found that the ideological beliefs most salient for young people when they place themselves on the left–right scale vary depending on the historical, political and cultural context. Although the majority are able to describe themselves in terms of ‘left’ and ‘right’, the meaning they attach to these notions differs from country to country. Accordingly, any cross-national analysis of ‘left’ and ‘right’ is prone to misleading results, if the national context is not taken into account.