Journal of Social and Political Psychology, , Vol. Received: Accepted: Published VoR : Handling Editor: J. E-mail: fritsbienfait kpnmail. This dynamic infused political thinking first in Versailles and since in democracies throughout the world. An essential feature of both the age-old classical polarity and the ensuing political polarity is that they are intimately bound up with local and evolving social contexts: there is no single content-based definition of left and right.
Keywords: political left, political right, polarity, Hertz, classification, order, anthropology, cultures. The political left and right were born in in the Salle des Menus-Plaisirs at Versailles, where Louis XVI had summoned a meeting of the Estates-General; Louis was beset with serious financial problems and urgently needed help to overcome them.
Two days after the ceremonial opening on 5 May, and following a heated debate, two important motions were put to the vote during a sitting of the Third Estate. A choice had to be made between two visions on the verification of the credentials of the representatives: should each estate verify the credentials of its own members, as dictated by tradition, or should this be undertaken for all representatives in a joint sitting of all three estates?
The modernist Mirabeau realised that if the verification was done according to the rules, this would implicitly sanction the separation of the three estates. He therefore demanded that the verification of the credentials should be done in common by all deputies, which would in time diminish the relevance of the division into estates.
Malouet, a moderate royalist, stood with the court for maintaining the traditional rules. According to Runciman , p. In the sittings that followed, this division continued to be reflected in the way the representatives took their seats in the chamber.
