The science behind left and right

Click the image to go to the Scientific American article

One of the more controversial things I describe in my book is that being left or right, progressive or conservative, is a characteristic that is largely determined by our genes. The first time that I encountered this insight was in an interview with the Belgian philosopher, biologist and writer Ruben Mersch.

I found it fascinating enough to add it to my research that I needed for the chapters dealing with polarisation. After some more research I indeed found that there is a scientific consensus that our political views are largely hardwired in our genes. There is even a word for this: genopolitics. The following article in Scientific American discusses one of the largest studies conducted on the subject.