Political leanings and TCK?
I don’t want to be controversial, but I was wondering if being TCK makes you more likely to lean to the left, politics-wise.
Maybe this has already been researched - I’m probably one of the few on this website who hasn’t read any of the TCK books - but from my own experience of other TCKs, this does seem the case. I mean I know that in every school, be it international or not, you’ll get the full spectrum of political beliefs but by and large, but I haven’t met too many right-thinking TCKs.
Is there something about living different cultures, being the ‘outsider’ (at least for some of the time for most of us), having to adapt that makes you more likely to sit towards the tree-hugging liberal end, and less likely to sympathise with conservative right-wing end? I don’t know! I’m sure many other things shape ones views to politics, but TCK-ing has got to play a pretty big role, I’d imagine.
February 10th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Yes! Lesser of the evils has been my voting policy since the beginning of my voting life.
It’s quite sad, I guess, that no party has ever got me fired up or passionate about the process.
(If I was voting with my heart, I’d vote Green. But they’d never win, so I know that would be a wasted vote, so I know I should do the “lesser evil” thing from amongst the main different-shades-of-evil parties. Sigh.)
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February 10th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I dunno, I tend towards a moderate, central view. I mean, in general I tend towards the left, but in practice I’m in the middle, I think because of the way I can look at anything from a variety of angles. Therefore, I can see the point in both left and right-wing stances, though naturally not in all things.
Remember, right now, left-wing politicians are known for peace-talk, whereas before that wasn’t the case. It all depends on your perspective.
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February 10th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I grew up mostly in Indonesia. Believe me, after 8 years of living through rigged elections, you gain a certain skepticism of democracy. Especially in the mess that followed Soeharto.
And then when I was old enough to vote in the US, my passport country, I had cousins in Texas saying that they “would vote for their Texan brother!”
Who said that famous quote? “The biggest argument against democracy is a 5 minute conversation with the average voter.”
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February 10th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
yes, I’m like that too!
because voting is mandatory in Brazil (and I’m a Brazlian citzen) I usually vote for the one I think is the “less evil” candidate.
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February 10th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
That and “If democracy actually worked, it would be illegal” which I saw scrawled on the inside of a public loo last year.
Argh I know. It’s not often you find people who are not cynical about politics.
But I think democracy is the least evil mode of government available, despite it all.
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February 10th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Fair enough. There are lots of factors (most unknown/unmeasurable probably?) which shape someone’s political outlook - so I guess TCK-ness is but one and I can make no generalisations!
I think I am more left-leaning now than I previously was - I too was more towards the centre. My parents received a subscription to The Economist newspaper for all my life pretty much, and I think having that lying around the house as occasional reading material rubbed off. That and possibly the BBC world service as a recurring morning theme in whichever country we we happened to be.
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February 10th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Perhaps… in countries where it actually more or less works.
Oh, I shouldn’t say anything. I’m pretty cynical.
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February 10th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I think we need to be careful of how we word things in this thread. First of all, to say that people who are “global citizens” or are more wordly are liberal and those who are not wordly are conservative is a, excuse me to say it and I mean no offense, fairly ignorant statement.
The mere invention of “left” and “right” is fairly absurd, I know only a few people who are truly completely on one side or another, and most of the time these people allow their opinions to be formed by the political party/ side that they subscribe to without ever really analyzing the consequences of their political ideology or actions.
The reality is there are a million things which can impact someone’s political leanings, as mentioned above living in places where security is compromised can have an impact on people, but so can religion and so can your parents. To say that those who tend to lean right are people who are heavily indoctrinated is offensive in itself to those who might have opinions which lean closer to that angle.
For myself, I am neither. Depending on the country I have a different view of what might work, because you can’t say that you’re a liberal or a conservative and that’s what you are across the world, especially if you’re a TCK because you should know better than to t hink that one ideology can and should be propogated everywhere. Secondly, my opinions concerning political, social, and economic matters vary across the spectrum. People seem to associate this with being a “centrist” but really you know there’s a problem when the structure of “ideologies” can only be composed of “conservative”, “liberal”, or “some random mix of the two”.
To say that TCKs tend to be more “liberal” in the traditional sense, to me, is more of a reflection of the understanding TCKs have for the human situation (people naturally assume that liberals have more of a heart than conservatives, in my personal experience). I don’t think that conservatives are numb to this sensation, they just interpret the reaction thereof differently, being a TCK is not incompatible with conservatism.
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February 11th, 2008 at 3:27 am
I have to agree with this too.
People have a tendency to assume that “Left” is for young idealists, which “global citizens” might be seen to be. “Right” is interpreted to be, at best, for the wise.
It’s all so silly.
However, I do stand by my idea that when you have a solid identification with a country, it’s with the idea of that nationstate, rather than the people. And since “right” tends to be more state-inclined, people with a strong sense of “I am”, tend more to the Right.
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February 11th, 2008 at 7:15 am
I should have disclaimed from the get-go that I realise that I am using (irresponsibly throwing around) the terms left and right loosely.
I agree with you that we are talking about a spectrum rather than simply one option or another.
Similarly I agree that trying to pigeonhole is futile - many people, like you say about yourself, and myself too, may hold what could be called (irresponsibly by commentators who are irresponsible)’left-leaning’ opinions on one subject and ‘right-leaning’ opinions on another subject or in another country/situation/time. What can you call such an individual? Neither leftist nor rightist, so in many ways these terms ARE obsolete. They’re obsolete for making sweeping statements about people, but I still think they have a place for describing particular opinions or solutions or reactions.
I wanted to know if there was any association between being a TCK and tending to opt for more (indulge me here) left-leaning solutions to problems than right-leaning ones or vice versa. As in, in the very broad, quite probably unscientific “If you answered mostly c)’s: Congratulations! Your opinions tend to be more liberal” sense. If we had a group of 100 random mixed TCKs and asked a few questions, how many TCKs would show a preference for “mostly left-wing” solutions and how many would show “mostly right-wing”; would there be a swing in one particular direction of the spectrum or would it be a completely random spread. I know that correlation does not equal causation - even if we did prove association of one or the other, going on to measure how significant it is would be a pretty tall order.
I’m not for one moment suggesting conservatives are numb/heartless (!!) or that whatever constitutes “worldly” = liberal.
But I wondered whether having to be the “outsider looking in,” while still at a young, mouldable age, had anything to do with going on to identify with liberal values or conservative values.
I suspect it does. But to what extent, and exactly how, and what the contribution of family/economics/local scene is to the whole picture - a million things as you say - I don’t know. So I think the hypothesis will not be proved/disproved.
Anyway. I shall tighten controls around ‘left’ and ‘right’ in the future.
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