preview

Conservatism Ideology

Good Essays

i) Conservatism as an Ideology
Conservatism is an ideology that strongly values tradition and continues to utilise the policies put in place by our ancestors before us. Because tradition is fundamental to conservatives they are very susceptible to change their policies: “change will only be supported if it does no harm and if this can be clearly demonstrated” (Young, 2015). Conservatism itself is a pragmatic ideology with no real goals or purpose other than to preserve the traditions put in by the generations previous to us.
“Conservatives look backwards, not forwards” (Alexander, 2014)
Conservatives believe that “we have a debt to those who are dead as well as those who are alive” (Alexander, 2014) meaning that humans owe so much to their …show more content…

(Goodwin, 1992) argues that conservatives believe that humans are subject “natural inequality” and some people are just “innately superior to others” whether this is through age, gender or social class etc.

Main Political Thinkers
Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797) is a significant writer and thinker for conservatism. One of his most important works was on the French Revolution, “Reflections on the Revolution in France” (1790). In the text he noted on the bloodshed and chaos directly caused by the revolution and did not want it to come to England to wreak havoc there also. A quote from “Reflections on the Revolution in France” notes on how a humans selfish and narrow minded views can severely damage the world.
“A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.”

ii) Socialism as an …show more content…

“Even if a socialist is conscious of history and wants to understand it, he does not suppose that we owe a debt to the traditions found in history”
What is meant by this quote is that we can reflect on our past, but not dedicate our lives to recreating history in order to pay our ancestors back for all they have done for us: “the conservative… does suppose we owe such a debt” (Alexander, 2014). Human nature from both socialism and conservatism can relate to the quote. Socialism reflects back on previous points in time so they can interpret and understand the way of thinking by political thinkers and policy makers at the time, but doesn’t feel they need to incorporate the traditions of political movements to create social continuity. Conservatives look back on political movements and points of time in history and examines the political processes involved in certain situations. As a sign of respect to their ancestors and a way to pay back the debt to them; they introduce and incorporate the traditions and political ideas into modern day society as they believe it is what is necessary to pay them

Get Access