How it works
You will be shown 25 scenario-based statements covering economic and social topics. For each one, tell us how strongly you agree or disagree.
- Economic axis: Left (collective ownership and redistribution) to Right (free markets and private ownership)
- Social axis: Authoritarian (state power and tradition) to Libertarian (personal freedom and civil rights)
- Your position is plotted alongside 10 historical figures for comparison
- Full question-by-question reasoning explains how you got there
- Academic citations from Eysenck, Nolan, and Pew Research
- Download your result as a shareable image
No jargon. No leading questions. No account required. Takes about 3-5 minutes.
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What this means
Historical figures
How you got here
Eysenck, H. J. (1954). The Psychology of Politics. Routledge.
Eysenck proposed that political orientation could be mapped on two independent dimensions: the familiar left-right economic axis and a second dimension running from tough-minded (authoritarian) to tender-minded (libertarian). This two-dimensional model underlies the political compass approach used here.
Nolan, D. (1971). Classifying and Analysing Politico-Economic Systems. The Individualist.
David Nolan's 1971 essay introduced the "Nolan Chart" — the first widely-used two-axis political map. Nolan argued that the traditional left-right spectrum collapsed two independent sets of values (economic freedom and personal freedom) into one misleading line. The compass structure used here builds on this insight.
Pew Research Center. (2021). Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology. Pew Research Center.
Pew's political typology studies demonstrate that the American (and by extension Western) electorate does not sit neatly on a one-dimensional scale. Their cluster analysis consistently finds groups defined by distinct combinations of economic and social views — reinforcing the two-dimensional model.
Feldman, S., & Johnston, C. (2014). Understanding the Determinants of Political Ideology. Political Psychology, 35(3), 337–358.
Feldman and Johnston show that economic ideology and social/cultural ideology are empirically separable dimensions, each driven by different psychological motivations. Economic ideology correlates strongly with egalitarianism; social ideology with authoritarianism and threat sensitivity.
Heath, A., Jowell, R., & Curtice, J. (1985). How Britain Votes. Pergamon Press.
The British Election Study methodology, developed by Heath, Jowell and Curtice, refined survey-based approaches to measuring political values. Their work on question balance — ensuring that both poles of a dimension are equally represented — informs the design of this quiz.
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