Associating Left and Right – the meaning of ideology in a Hungarian context

Abstract

In the last decades of political ideological research, the existance and meaning of the Left-Right dimension has been questioned. In our study we employed a free associations method to determine the meaning of these categories. Our results prove that Hungarians do use these categories and they contain a distinct meaning that is diverse but interpretable. Many features emerge that cannot be found in Western European countries such as: conservatism associated with the political Left and wanting change with the political Right. The abscence of economical factors is also notable. We believe that the data obtained by the free associations method provides an excellent ground for international comparisons, especially among countries with a postcommunist heritage.