How right-wing beliefs shape your view of the past – while left-wing people look to the long run

The divide between right and left around the globe has rarely been more polarized. Of course, there have at all times been differences between people at opposite ends of the political spectrum, but now it looks like they live in completely different worlds. This could also be related to the appropriate's tendency to give attention to the past and strive for a world that after existed, and the left's tendency to do the other.

Take two of essentially the most famous political slogans of recent times: Barack Obama’s “Yes we can” and Donald Trump’s “Make America great again.” While Obama's message evokes prospects of a successful future, Trump's message expresses a nostalgic take a look at the past.

In the United Kingdom, the successful Brexit campaign, led largely by Conservatives, famously called on people to “take back control,” while Labor has just launched its local government election campaign under the slogan “Britain’s Future.”

The pattern is analogous worldwide. In South Africa, the right-wing Freedom Front Plus recently adopted the slogan “Stop the decay”. For the upcoming presidential elections in Mexico, the left-wing National Regeneration Movement is mobilizing voters with “Together for change“.

In one Recent studyI examined whether in most people people on the appropriate evaluate the past, present and future in another way than people on the left. I asked a sample of 1,200 people to judge different periods of history.

They were interviewed concerning the period from 1950 to 2000, the current and the near future (explaining their view of society in 25 years). I attracted participants from the US, UK, Italy, South Africa, Mexico and Poland – countries with different economies, cultures and political regimes.

In all countries, those on the appropriate viewed the recent past more positively than those on the left. In the US, Poland and Britain, nonetheless, leftists were more optimistic about what humanity could achieve within the near future.

Interestingly, the effect on the left didn’t occur in Italy, Mexico and South Africa. Therefore, the appropriate's more positive view of the past appears to be shared in all countries, while the left's higher optimism just isn’t.

The glorious past

In an experiment for the study, a gaggle of participants were made to view the past more positively. These participants didn’t look like more open to right-wing opinions afterwards. This suggests that the connection just isn’t in that direction. Greater nostalgia for the past doesn’t predispose people to support right-wing beliefs.

On the opposite hand, one other experiment encouraged a gaggle of participants to think freely about their political views. In response to this request, right-wing participants on this group became more nostalgic concerning the past.

Left-wing participants became fewer. This suggests that endorsing right-leaning opinions initially causes people to change into more nostalgic, while endorsing left-leaning opinions does the other.

A final experiment examined nostalgia in additional detail. Here I actually have considered two possible types of nostalgia. Some people may feel nostalgic for traditional communities, for the old hierarchical order, for stronger family ties, and for traditional culture. Other people could also be nostalgic concerning the economy, remembering a time when governments tended to intervene more.

Is the appropriate person nostalgic about tradition, economics, or each? In my experiment, it was people on the left, not the appropriate, who were more nostalgic concerning the economy. Those on the appropriate had greater nostalgia for the tradition.

The data also shows that economic nostalgia on the left just isn’t as strong as traditional nostalgia on the appropriate, which explains why the appropriate might be viewed as more nostalgic overall than the left.

These results help explain why it’s so common for right-wing politicians to appeal to voters with guarantees to take them back to the great old days, and why left-wing slogans mobilize voters to construct a greater future – and maybe offer the politicians who’ve done so, a lesson like to achieve across the divide.