Left vs Right

A concept-map exploring the Left vs Right political spectrum. A collaboration between David McCandless and information artist Stefanie Posavec, taken from my book The Visual Miscellaneum (out Nov 10th).

Of course, the political spectrum is not quite so polarised. Actually, it’s more of a diamond shape, apparently. But this is how it’s mostly presented via the media – left wing vs. right wing, liberal vs. conservative, Labour vs Tory. And perhaps in our minds too…

Well, certainly in my mind. Researching this showed me that, despite my inevitable journalistic lean to the ‘left’, I am actually a bit more ‘right’ than I suspected.

This kind of visual approach to mapping concepts really excites me. I like the way it coaxes me to entertain two apparently contradictory value systems at the same time. Or, in other words, I like the way it f**ks with my head.

I’ve got a few more of these coming from my book. They do a similar act of mind-flossing. Stay tuned.

Oh and if there’s enough demand, we’re going to do a signed, limited edition poster run of this image before Christmas. Email informationisbeautiful [at] gmail [dot] com if you’re interested

design notes

The original design concept was “something like a rosette”. But Stefanie did an amazing job taking it way further.

(I’ll be doing a ‘Great Visualizers’ piece on her in the future. But you can see some of her work here: itsbeenreal.co.uk. My particular favourite are her literary organisms. Truly beautiful and very informational. Yum.)

There are two versions with different colours: a US and a World version. This is because the US and Switzerland are the only countries in the world where red = right wing and blue = left wing. Grrr!

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Posted in Comparison Chart, Economics, Group MInd, Infographic, Knowledge Map, Political, concept map.
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109 Comments

  1. Dave K.
    Posted December 9, 2009 at 1:32 am | Permalink

    I would beg to differ with your concept that conservatives “don’t interfere with social lives,” because that’s something they do far more than the liberals. They are usually quite hypocritical about it, too.

    Also, liberals are for research, development, infrastructure, and innovation. They are for entrepreneurship and opportunity.

    conservatives would prefer to give money to the wealthiest, feudalism style, in hopes that they do good things with all their money and that it will trickle down to the rest of society, even though that’s never worked for thousands of years.

    conservatives don’t mind monopolies, even if they take away opportunity for anybody new to enter into the marketplace. they don’t care if tuitions are so costly that fewer and fewer can afford to go to school, and thus get a good job, one day.

  2. Posted December 9, 2009 at 3:38 am | Permalink

    And the Libertarians? The Libertarian political philosophy cuts across these cliches by being consistent. Your graphic (and thank you for making it) nicely shows how hodge-podge or jumbled are the views of Democrats and Republicans.

  3. Matt
    Posted December 17, 2009 at 12:34 am | Permalink

    First I would like to say that this was a very good diagram. I thought it stayed away from the pitfall of judging either side based on personal bias.
    Dave, your aberration for republicans clearly shows which way you lean. Your statement that republicans are feudalistic and give money only to the wealthiest is misleading. All of your comments are based on a naive understanding of the economics of party policies. The republicans support tax cuts which means the money you put in you get back; it just seems like they are for the rich because the rich pay all of the taxes. If you cut taxes then they are going to get the biggest benefit(nominally but overall most tax cuts are based on percentages). If the poor got the most then that would be the government redistributing wealth. They are in effect taxing the wealthy to give to the poor. It doesn’t matter to me which way you lean but you need to get some facts and come back and see me. Before you right me off as a disgruntled republican, I would classify myself more as a classical liberal, so I have some arguments with both sides

  4. Posted December 23, 2009 at 6:00 am | Permalink

    Hi, I’d like to share some of what I learned from the web-based, non-corporate alternative media. The dual political system with communists on one side and fascists on another is wrong. The system with four sides is also wrong and was designed with a Libertarian bias by a Libertarian. The truth is a dual spectrum system that displays the degree of power held by the government from highest to lowest. On the far left is very powerful government, such as a monarchy, in the middle we have a republic, which is government under rule of law, and on the far right there is no government, also known as anarchy, where no government exists and people have to protect themselves. Please watch this educational video on youtube to further understand this scale and how important it is to The United States of America and its citizens. The quote in the beginning of the video by Benjamin franklin is especially revelant these days.
    THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM EXPLAINED
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODJfwa9XKZQ&feature=related

  5. Scott
    Posted December 24, 2009 at 5:21 am | Permalink

    Isn’t it just two wings of the same bird? They blame eachother for their own problems. They play off eachother to hide the corruption on the left if your a “conservative” or on the right if your a “liberal.” Get over it America! Both sides are corrupt. It’s like professional wrestling. It’s really the new world order people against the freedom people.

  6. Mark
    Posted January 6, 2010 at 8:07 pm | Permalink

    First off: Amazing chart, and like yours, my opinions come from both sides (sometimes on the same topic!) which just goes to show…

    And thanks for telling me that apparently in Switzerland red is associated with the right… I honestly didn’t notice and here I was thinking I am a politcally interested Swiss… For me, red associates more closely with communism and socialism and therefore the left. Especially as our Social Democratic Party is almost truly socialist.

  7. John
    Posted January 14, 2010 at 5:16 pm | Permalink

    Nice artwork, but totally flawed. The reality is the chart should be labeled “Statist” vs “Individualist.” The Left are elitists and Statists who think that they should be in charge of an enlightened State that can perfect human nature. They are utopian and backwards looking (proceeding Forward into the Past towards the next socialist dictatorship, with the best of intentions in their hearts), trying to create something that can never be. They believe in communitarianism and shallow egalitarianism (aka “some animals are more equal than others”). Their vision is as old as Plato’s Republic.

    The Individualists are meritocrats who think that human nature is flawed and cannot be perfected, so the best form of government is that which governs least yet empowers the individual. They believe in individual responsibility, equal opportunity and meritocracy.
    How’s that for some counter stereotypes??

  8. MattM
    Posted January 15, 2010 at 7:19 am | Permalink

    Brilliant diagram, but do 78% of European lefties believe in God? I find that astonishing.

  9. Vinny
    Posted January 27, 2010 at 12:45 am | Permalink

    I’d agree that the interference in social lives is much heavier on the conservative side…I understand that liberals tend toward regulation and public programs that may affect the individual, but the conservatives are much more invasive. Controlling elections, wiretapping, filling up prisons…that seems like a fairly steep influence on a citizen’s life. They want total control over what people can say, what they can do (i.e. victimless crimes), what they can believe (church/state not so separate), what they can achieve (keeping the rich rich and the poor poor), and the list goes on. I don’t see how liberals, with a live and let live philosophy, can hardly be said to interfere in our social lives more than the average conservative.

17 Trackbacks

  1. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by David McCandless and greychampion, Info=Beautiful. Info=Beautiful said: New viz: Left vs Right: The Political Spectrum visualized! http://bit.ly/3i1Ntb A collaboration with Stefanie Posavec http://bit.ly/q32j5 [...]

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  4. By Las Aventuras de Vitinho on October 22, 2009 at 4:28 am

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  5. By uberVU - social comments on October 22, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

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  10. [...] her name is on the chart, and she’s clearly credited at Information is Beautiful where I saw the chart. And also because, after I had missed these telltale signs, Stefanie told me it [...]

  11. By links for 2009-10-28 - paulcarvill.com on October 28, 2009 at 11:04 pm

    [...] Left vs Right | Information Is Beautiful "A concept-map exploring the Left vs Right political spectrum. A collaboration between David McCandless and information artist Stefanie Posavec, from the book The Visual Miscellaneum (out Nov 10th)." (tags: politics infographics visualization design) [...]

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