very small nutshell of left and right wing
yes i agree, left and right refers to politics economically. (in a very small nutshell) left is supportive of everyone having equal wealth and lots of social welfare (so relatively high taxes). right supports 'laissez faire' which basically means fend for yourself/user pays system - so low taxes and freedom for people to get rich, but if they should fail then there is no support for them from the state.
lots of people take left and right in social politics - right wing is then the conservative (racist, anti abortion, anti homos, anti divorce, anti contraception etc) one and left wing is progressive (pro for all the antis mentioned above)