From the Exam: Socialists or Not?

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Clarissa

December 13, 2012

One of the questions on the exam was, “If you were a citizen of Spain, which of the parties would you vote for and why?”

A student responded, “I would support the Socialist Workers’ Party of Spain because I’m against the government having too much control over people’s lives.”

I now don’t know how to diagnoze this. A language problem? A confusion in terminology? A simple mistake? Or something bigger than that?

In the two sections of the course, almost everybody responded that they would support the Spanish Socialists, a few said that they wouldn’t support either PSOE or PP because both parties are too conservative, and only one student said she would support the PP because she is repulsed by the endless corruption scandals among Spain’s Socialists.

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3 responses to “From the Exam: Socialists or Not?”

Rob F

December 13, 2012

Could the person be thinking of social conservatives, whose have neurotic obsessions about the consensual sex lives of people they don’t even know, never interact with, and that have nothing to do with them, and therefore intrude into their bedrooms to prevent others from doing what they themselves do? If the SWPS is not socon and the rightwing parties are, then this would fit the student’s claim.

One possible refutation is that while socons exist in Spain, they basically permanently shut up as there is no real entity at all comparable in power and influence to the American religious wrong? I suspect my refutation here is correct, but I’m still all eyes for the answer.

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Patrick Allen Foster

December 14, 2012

Could a student pick the ERC or PNV? Or would that be too region-specific?

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Z

December 14, 2012

Somewhat related: since you are an Amazon reviewer and for other reasons perhaps this would be a good book to review, on Mao’s great famine. http://www.amazon.com/Tombstone-Great-Chinese-Famine-1958-1962/dp/0374277931

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