Research Article


DOI :10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772   IUP :10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772    Full Text (PDF)

Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey

Alper Yağcı

Individuals’ self-placement on the left-right scale continues to be a staple of voting studies, but the semantic content of this scale is rarely explored. This study aims to examine the discrepancy between the actual and perceived meanings of the political left-right divide among ordinary people, based on original data from a representative sample of Turkey. Are economic issues as pertinent to subjectively held left-right placements as people think? In order to empirically address this question, we develop measures for both parts of the question, i.e. how people endorsing certain economic positions place themselves on the left-right scale, as well as what left-right placement they attribute to a hypothetical person endorsing the same positions. We ask similar questions about non-economic issue positions too, all together comparing six issues. The results show that while the semantic content of the left-right scale in contemporary Turkey is mostly about secularism—a non-economic issue—and is popularly understood as such, it is more about environmentalism, and less about economic issues, than what people think. Endorsement of gender equality and freedom of thought also prove to be substantial correlates of a leftward self-placement and they are popularly recognized as such.

DOI :10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772   IUP :10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772    Full Text (PDF)

Siyasal Tutumların Sol-Sağ Cetvelinde Gerçek ve Zannedilen Yerleşimleri: Türkiye’ye Dair Temsili Bulgular

Alper Yağcı

Bireylerin sol-sağ cetveline kendilerini nasıl yerleştirdikleri (sol-sağ özdeğerlendirmeleri) özellikle seçmen davranışına ilişkin çalışmalarda sıklıkla gündeme gelmekte, fakat bu cetvelin anlam içeriği mevcut literatürde sorgulanmadan kalmaktadır. Bu çalışma, Türkiye’yi temsil niteliği taşıyan bir orijinal anketin verilerine dayanarak, sıradan insanlar için sol-sağ ayrımının gerçek ve atfedilen anlamları arasındaki farkı incelemektedir. Örneğin, ekonomik meseleler sübjektif sol-sağ özdeğerlendirmeleri için insanların zannettiği kadar önemli mi? Bu soruyu ampirik olarak yanıtlamak için, sorunun her iki bileşeniyle ilgili ölçüler geliştirilerek, hem belirli ekonomik pozisyonları destekleyen insanların kendilerini sol-sağ cetvelinde nereye yerleştirdikleri, hem de bu pozisyonları desteklediği bildirilen hipotetik bireyi aynı cetvelde nereye yerleştirdiklerine dair veriler elde edildi. Ekonomi dışı alanları da kapsayacak şekilde altı politika meselesine dair sorular soruldu. Özdeğerlendirmelere ilişkin bulguların gösterdiği üzere Türkiye’de sol-sağ cetveli daha çok ekonomi dışı bir mesele olan sekülerizm ile ilgili olup halk arasında da böyle anlaşılmaktadır; bununla birlikte sol-sağ cetveli çevrecilikle zannedilenden daha çok ve ekonomik meselelerle zannedilenden daha az ilgilidir. Ayrıca cinsiyet eşitliği ve düşünce özgürlüğü de cetvelin solunda yerleşim ile yakından ilintili olup bu konuda farkındalık da mevcuttur.


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APA

Yağcı, A. (2022). Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, 31(2), 235-253. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772


AMA

Yağcı A. Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences. 2022;31(2):235-253. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772


ABNT

Yağcı, A. Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, [Publisher Location], v. 31, n. 2, p. 235-253, 2022.


Chicago: Author-Date Style

Yağcı, Alper,. 2022. “Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey.” Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences 31, no. 2: 235-253. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772


Chicago: Humanities Style

Yağcı, Alper,. Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey.” Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences 31, no. 2 (Mar. 2025): 235-253. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772


Harvard: Australian Style

Yağcı, A 2022, 'Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey', Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 235-253, viewed 23 Mar. 2025, https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772


Harvard: Author-Date Style

Yağcı, A. (2022) ‘Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey’, Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, 31(2), pp. 235-253. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772 (23 Mar. 2025).


MLA

Yağcı, Alper,. Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey.” Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences, vol. 31, no. 2, 2022, pp. 235-253. [Database Container], https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772


Vancouver

Yağcı A. Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences [Internet]. 23 Mar. 2025 [cited 23 Mar. 2025];31(2):235-253. Available from: https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772 doi: 10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772


ISNAD

Yağcı, Alper. Actual and Popularly Attributed Placement of Political Attitudes on the Left-Right Scale: Results from a Representative Survey of Turkey”. Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences 31/2 (Mar. 2025): 235-253. https://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2022.31.1146772



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Submitted21.07.2022
Accepted28.10.2022
Published Online08.11.2022

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