A Very Serious Debate On Harry Potter Houses (And Their Political Compass Affiliations)

Muggle-born is the acceptable terminology.
 
Think of Umbridge, for example. She wasn't attracted to Voldemort out of any sort of reverence for his abilities or admiration, it was solely due to his actions and message that she became loyal to him. The return of pureblood wizard supremacy, the authoritarian power of the state, the violence to maintain these things were the appeal for her, and indeed for followers similar to her.
I always got the impression that Umbridge was more representative of the Banality of Evil. Yes, she was unpleasant and sadistic herself (and a Slytherin alumnus, judging by her Quidditch-team support in Book 5), but she seemed mostly just inclined to follow Authority-with-an-A, provided that doing so advanced her own interests/career.

She never gave me the impression she cared about anyone's ideology as such, just mouthed whatever platitudes were necessary to indicate Loyalty to whoever happened to be the current Dear Leader. She served Fudge (and Scrimgeour) just as 'efficiently' as she did Thicknesse/ Voldemort (although of course, she had a personal vendetta against Undesirable Number 1).
These guys are a really small minority of his support though, which grows quickly in both of his rises to power from a core of about a dozen, to hundreds, to what seems to be a majority of the functioning government.
Are you forgetting that the genuine, ideological Death Eaters generally recruited through Imperio, rather than inspiration? I mean, people like Stan Shunpike are hardly likely to (be allowed to) join the Death Eaters voluntarily, are they?

In Book 5, Arthur Weasley says that Lucius Malfoy having repeated opportunities to cast Imperius on Fudge was potentially a major worry for the Order. Not sure why Malfoy held back, to be honest -- apart from that Rowling wanted to write 2 more books, so she couldn't let Voldemort take power just yet... ;)
The Muggle-born inspections affect (presumably) a small proportion of the population though we don't know what percentage of the wizarding population is actually Muggle-born.
A very large part, according to Ron (I think): he says (in Book 2?) something along the lines of how wizards would have died out long since if they hadn't intermarried with Muggles, and lots of people pretending to be Pureblood likely have Muggle-borns (if not actual Muggles) lurking not far up their family tree. (And IIRC, the Death Eaters' working definition of 'Muggle-born' extended unto the third generation, for the purposes of wand-confiscation/ incarceration).
And two, Harry Freaking Potter, a half-blood son of a Mudblood, whose pureblood line had at that point already been declared blood-traitor was one prejudice-inducing meeting with Malfoy and one biased opinion of a Weasley away from himself becoming a Slytherin.
Not really. Meeting Hagrid --and learning the truth about his parents' death -- probably disinclined Harry towards Slytherin House more than his first meetings with either Malfoy or Ron. (None of them had been Sorted at that point; and like Harry, Ron was also worried he'd end up in Hufflepuff).

That said, Harry had suffered Dudley for the first 10 years of his life, so recognising the bully in Malfoy made his/their mutual dislike pretty much inevitable; Malfoy confronting him on the train, and belittling Ron (and his family), who Harry has taken an instant liking to, just solidifies that. But when Harry's being Sorted, all he specifies is 'Not Slytherin!' (a bias reinforced by having just seen Malfoy get put there) -- he doesn't choose Gryffindor, nor does the Hat suggest it before announcing it the Hall (and Ron still hasn't been Sorted at that point). And anyway, doesn't Dumbledore later hint (Book 5?) and later confirm (Book 7) that it was actually Harry's being a *S*P*O*I*L*E*R* that the Hat recognised, when it wanted to put him in Slytherin?

On topic:

Though I lol'd at TF's post, if we have to stick with the '1 house per quadrant' rule, then I'd keep Slytherin and Hufflepuff where they are, but swap Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.

Though there aren't really many established Ravenclaw characters in the books -- Cho and Luna are the only two that I can think of who get any kind of development, which isn't saying much, and the rest are little more than random names -- I think it's very telling that Hermione was very nearly a Ravenclaw herself. "You should do what I say because it's fair and right, and anyway I'm smarter than you, so I know better" seems to be a fairly neat sum-up of both her attitude and her major failing (think SPEW). And that mindset also fits in very nicely with left-wing authoritarianism, however well-intentioned.

Whereas Gryffindors seem for the most part to be anti-Authority (possibly because they're the only ones 'brave' enough, but still...) so putting them in the top half doesn't feel right. Not to mention, you could hardly ask for better poster-persons for the pulling-yourself-up-by-your-own-sheer-talent right-wing-libertarian ideal, than good ol' Gred and Forge -- or indeed, Rowling herself (who wants to be a Gryffindor)...
 
A very large part, according to Ron (I think): he says (in Book 2?) something along the lines of how wizards would have died out long since if they hadn't intermarried with Muggles, and lots of people pretending to be Pureblood likely have Muggle-borns (if not actual Muggles) lurking not far up their family tree. (And IIRC, the Death Eaters' working definition of 'Muggle-born' extended unto the third generation, for the purposes of wand-confiscation/ incarceration).

This is incorrect, Ron is just talking about people who have some Muggle blood, but Muggle-borns (as in, magical people born to two non-magical parents) are fairly rare.

And anyway, doesn't Dumbledore later hint (Book 5?) and later confirm (Book 7) that it was actually Harry's being a *S*P*O*I*L*E*R* that the Hat recognised, when it wanted to put him in Slytherin?

The last book came out like ten years ago, I don't think we need to bother with that.
 
I think it's very telling that Hermione was very nearly a Ravenclaw herself.

Putting all the main characters into the same house is one of my biggest complaints, it restricted the story and prevented many great chances at world-building within the school.

The problem with trying to places the houses in specific quadrants is that the houses themselves are based on completely arbitrary qualities, and indeed these qualities aren't event constant at every point in a persons life. Someone whose a loud and aggressive child can turn into a quiet and sheepish teen and then into a courageous yet bookish adult.

Also, besides Hermione belonging in Ravenclaw, Ron and family were born to be in Hufflepuff.
 
Putting all the main characters into the same house is one of my biggest complaints, it restricted the story and prevented many great chances at world-building within the school.

The problem with trying to places the houses in specific quadrants is that the houses themselves are based on completely arbitrary qualities, and indeed these qualities aren't event constant at every point in a persons life. Someone whose a loud and aggressive child can turn into a quiet and sheepish teen and then into a courageous yet bookish adult.

Also, besides Hermione belonging in Ravenclaw, Ron and family were born to be in Hufflepuff.

Well that and it kind of undermines the central theme of the stories, which is that they as a wizarding community should focus on what unites them as a community, rather than emphasizing what differentiates them as a tribe. Hogwarts defeats Voldemort only by coming together as a school. And the bon mot of the story is that all houses are valid and at the end of the day you're still a member of Hogwarts before you are a member of your house, or whatever.

And yes, as I said above, if you stick strictly to canon text, the exercise is going to be both pointless and dull, because "smart, brave, evil, and other" isn't a real tetrachotomy. As opposed to, say, the nations of Avatar, which are (Fluidity vs Rigidity vs Passivity vs Interactivity, or something along those lines).

I like sortinghatchats because they take the essence of the houses, and actually develop them into a schema that somewhat makes sense. And I think taking it as a theoretical framework, while not literally canon, does fit over the text rather neatly. The quirks of the characters and their affiliations certainly make more sense in light of them, such as Harry being Gryffindor/Slytherin, Hermione and McGonnagal being Gryffindor/Ravenclaw, and Sprout being Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw.

I think the simplest way to view the houses that makes sense as a 2-axis tetrachotomy, is to divide things according to a priori vs a posteriori worldview/ethical framework, and self vs society orientation.

Re: Harry almost being sorted into Slytherin. Remember that the Hat says (iirc) in book 2 "I maintain you would have done very well in Slytherin". He says nothing about "belonging" in Slytherin; it has nothing to do with the Voldemort fragment inhabiting his body. It has everything to do with his personality, his propensity to trust, seek solace in, and do everything alone. That's a Slytherin. He may justify it a posteriori as his not wanting to see others hurt (or more generally his friends justify it for him that way), but regardless of reasoning, his first impulse is always to leave others behind and do it himself. This as opposed to the Weasleys or Hermione, whose first impulses are always to recruit allies to fight alongside them.
 
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Hogwarts defeats Voldemort only by coming together as a school.

Except the Slytherins who all leave before the battle (minus Slughorn).

There is a bit of extreme genre-savviness exhibited by Lee Jordan in the second book where he says something like "Heir of Slytherin, Slytherin's monster, why don't we just chuck all the Slytherins out?" Why indeed.
 
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Aren't they locked in the basement during the final battle?

Nah, they leave the school before it starts via the room of requirement iirc. After Pansy Parkinson stands up in the Great Hall and yells that they should turn Harry over to Voldemort.
 
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