The best pointless study ever?
by John
I’ve never understood why people do these big studies of 136,000 odd people in 80 countries. Well, I do, if it’s to research things like how to combat hereditary illnesses and the like, but not studies that tell us things that most people with an ounce of common sense could figure out for themselves. Still, sometimes the most pointless studies contain absolute gold, my friends.
Take this one. The University of Leicester have studied 136,000 people across 80 countries, and have discovered the shocking information that many people who consider themselves to be “left-wing” or “liberal” are, in fact, conservative or right of centre. This is not news to most of us, but one would hope that a study like this one might shed some light on the reasons why. Alas, we get only this:
“The most startling result is that the more educated tend to believe that they are more left-wing than they are measured as being,” said Dr Rockey. “That is, well-educated individuals are more likely to think that they are quite left-wing but actually believe things that compared to the rest of the population would make them comparatively right-wing…..
…..Dr Rockey said one speculative explanation is that people may hold on to their perception that they have left-wing views, but that over time as their circumstances and social network changes their actual political opinions drift rightwards.”
Sure. Except that this misses the point entirely. What this study is really telling us is that political labels carry much more to them than a simple collection of policy choices. They also carry all kinds of socio-cultural baggage. So, if you’re somebody brought up in a society where “conservatives” are stupid, and “right wing” is a dirty word, you’re more likely to identify as a fluffy “caring” liberal, even though you’re nothing of the sort. The lesson here? There are bucketloads of you out there, identifying yourselves as intellectually and morally superior liberals, even as you’re pining away for tax cuts. Which, if true, I think is kind of funny.
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As a social scientist and former policy adviser whose work in both spheres depends on these sorts of studies, I can only hope that if you get the reins of power someday, you might give people like me a shout before closing them all down!