The article examines, at theoretical, empirical and political levels, the change in the meaning of ideological self-positioning in Spain, starting from the apparent contradiction that Spaniards are mostly self-positioning on the left and vote for a socialist party that does not practice a traditional left-wing policy. The explanation given is that political polarisation between right and left is currently based on non-economic (moral-social) issues rather than on economic issues. Hypotheses have been proved by confirmatory factorial analysis techniques (LISREL), and it has been specified that the moral-social dimension is even more important than the economic dimension among the younger generations.