Left and right : the small world of political ideas /

Left and right : the small world of political ideas /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Cochrane, Christopher, author.
Imprint:	Montréal ; Kingston : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2015. ©2015
Description:	x, 205 pages : illustrations, portrait ; 24 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	Right and left (Political science) -- History -- 20th century. Right and left (Political science) -- History -- 21st century. Right and left (Political science) History.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10489406

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780773545786 (cloth) 0773545786 (cloth) 9780773545793 (paper) 0773545794 (paper)
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:	"The words "left" and "right" often signal a political divide in debates about abortion, homosexuality, capital punishment, gun control, law and order, social welfare, public transportation, taxation, immigration, and the environment, among other issues. Despite claims that this phenomenon is in decline, its persistence suggests that it is inherent to our society. At the same time, variations in the understanding of each side indicate that these labels do not fully capture the reality of ideological disagreement. In Left and Right Christopher Cochrane traces the origins of this political language to the very nature of ideology. What is ideology, what does it look like, and how does it manifest itself in patterns of political disagreement in Western democracies? Drawing on five decades of evidence from political scientists, including public opinion surveys, elite surveys, and content analysis of political party election platforms, Cochrane employs a new method to analyze the structure and evolution of the left/right divide in twenty-one Western countries since 1945. He then delves into the central argument of the book--that the language of left and right describes a meaningful, perceptible, and quantifiable pattern of political disagreement that has persisted over time and around the world. Calling for an adjustment to the way we view Canadian politics, Left and Right opens a window into the world of political ideologies--a world we see every day, but rarely analyze, define, or agree on."--

Table of Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction
2. The "Meaning" of Left and Right
3. Ideology, Dimensionality, and Asymmetry
4. The Structure and Content of Left/Right Differences
5. Left/Right Positions and Polarization
6. Left/Right Persistence and Evolution
7. Citizens' Left /Right Orientations
8. The Rise of Left/Right in Canadian Politics
9. Conclusion.