Conservatism

Intro to Conservatism

• defined by desire to conserve, reflected in suspicion of change

• Commitment to pragmatism sets it apart from other ideologies

• Earlier conservatives sought to uphold organic structure of society, value tradition and believe in human imperfection. Their overall thinking is guided by what works best in current circumstances.

• Conservatism encompasses a range of tendencies

• Chief distinction within conservatism is between Traditional and One Nation strands of conservatism and more modern New Right.

Traditional Conservatism

• Seek to defend established institutions and values on the ground that they safeguard fragile 'fabric of society', giving security-sense of stability

• Society develops naturally to support humans who exist within it and is more valuable than any single individual.

• Value importance of tradition and hierarchy

• humans are imperfect-need to be supported and guided by those who know better

One Nation Conservatism

• Takes its name from writings of Benjamin Disraeli

• In the light of dramatic industrialization in 18th and 19th centuries, Disraeli recognized that although laissez- faire capitalism brought huge riches to some, it also resulted in great poverty for others.

• Disraeli set about making gradual changes to social and economic positions of working class in order to improve their lives, in the interest of preserving society, and the ruling elite's position within it

• His desire to unite 'two nations' of the rich and the poor was given the label One Nation conservatism.

New Right

• Emerged as a wholly unique strand of conservatism in the 1970s

• Characterized by belief in a strong but small state, combining both economic freedom (an updated version of classical liberalism) with social authoritarianism, as represented by the terms neoliberalism and neoconservatism, and is associated with Thatcher government.

• The key to understanding the New Right is not just in understanding what it believes, but also 'how' it believes. It is highly ideological, and radical, rejecting the pragmatic, consensus-seeking of centuries of conservatism. This form of conservatism represented a dramatic shift from the past

Pragmatism

• Flexible approach to dealing with issues thrown up by society

• 'change in order to conserve'

• Burke emphasized dangers of mob rule, fearing that Revolution destroyed French society

• He appealed to British virtues of continuity, tradition, hierarchy and property

• Lesson Burke drew from French Revolution was that change can be natural and inevitable, in which case it should not be resisted

• 'A state without the means of some change', he suggested, 'is without the means of its own conservation.

• characteristic style of Burkean conservatism is cautious, modest and pragmatic; it reflects a suspicion of fixed principles

Tradition

• Encompasses anything that is passed down from past to the present. Anything from long-standing customs, institutions or sets of beliefs can be regarded as a tradition

• Traditional institutions like monarchy as well as traditional values such as marriage, family, religion and morality

• For some conservatives, emphasis on tradition reflects their religious faith.

• If the world is thought to have been created by God the Creator, traditional customs and practices in society will be regarded as 'God-given'

• Burke believed that society was shaped by 'the law of our Creator'. If humans tamper with the world, they are challenging the will of God, and as a result they are likely to make human affairs worse rather than better.

• Most conservatives, support tradition without needing to argue that it has divine origins

• Burke described society as a 'partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead and those who are to be born'

• Tradition reflects accumulated wisdom of the past.

• institutions and practices of the past have been 'tested by time and should be preserved for the generations to come. To stand the test of time means that generations have found the practices or institutions to be relevant; they have survived through different time periods and circumstances and maintained their usefulness

• Darwinian belief that they have demonstrated their fitness to survive

• Tradition incorporates into it idea that instance, argue that institution of monarchy should be preserved because it embodies historical any changes to society should be cautious, slow and organic in nature. Conservatives in the UK, for wisdom and experience.

• In particular, monarchy has provided UK with a focus of national loyalty and respect 'above' party politics

Human Imperfection

• 'philosophy of human imperfection'

• Other ideologies assume that humans are naturally 'good', or that they can be made 'good' if circumstances are improved

• In most extreme form, envisage perfectibility of human kind in an ideal society

• Conservatives dismiss these ideas-argue humans are both imperfect and imperfectible.

• Humans are psychologically limited and dependent creatures. conservatives-people fear isolation and instability. They are drawn to safe and familiar and seek security of knowing 'their place'

• Humans' intellectual powers thought to be limited. Conservatives traditionally believed that world is too complicated for humans to grasp fully. Oakeshott ‘in political activity men sail a boundless and bottomless sea’ suggesting that world was too complex to fully understand and that this was fully compounded by human imperfection, as people do not have ability to make sense of this world. He argued that other ideologies simplify problems and promote solutions using ‘rational’ ideas which he suggested leads to distortion and simplification.

• Whereas other political philosophies trace the origins of immoral or criminal behaviour to society. conservatives believe it is rooted in humans. Humans are thought to be morally imperfect. Conservatives hold a pessimistic, Hobbesian, view of human nature. Humankind is innately selfish and greedy, anything but perfectible. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) desire for 'power after power' is primary human urge. Some conservatives explain this by reference to Old Testament doctrine of 'original sin'. Crime is not a product of inequality disadvantage but it is a consequence of 'immoral' human instincts and appetites

Organicism

• Burke- society is like a tree, growing from the accumulated wisdom of past generations. We should be ‘cautious when venturing upon pulling down an edifice which has answered, to any tolerable degree, the common purpose of society’

• Sees society as a living entity with all its parts working together in harmony

• people cannot exist separately from society and society provides individuals with a sense of security and purpose

• Society is maintained by a delicate set of relationships. If this is disturbed, society will be undermined

• Humans accept the duties, responsibilities and bonds that go with belonging to society

• Organic society and states develop naturally as needed

• Everyone in society has a specific place, purpose and function

• Burke- ‘loving the little platoons to which you belong’

• society more important than the parts

• authority comes from above

Paternalism

• Belief in a higher authority which knows best and acts in the best interest of all

• For conservatives, this is the state, acting as a wise and benevolent parent, guarding against wrong choices, steering all to the right paths to take in life

• Conservatives’ belief in paternalism is inextricably linked to their views on hierarchy, authority and organicism

Libertarianism

• Belief in extending the most amount of freedom to the individual for them to make individual choice

• Emphasises the rights of individuals to liberty, advocating only minimal state intervention in the lives of citizens. The primary role of the state is to protect individual rights

• Libertarian strand in conservatism can be seen at times to be at odds with some of the other core principles

• They believe that individuals prosper most when restrictions are minimal

Traditional Conservatism-Pragmatism

• Burke

  • advocated a prudent willingness to ‘change in order to conserve’

  • Pragmatism bring about change organically

• Base actions on experience (empiricism)

• not to be tied down to a rigid set of beliefs

  • Oakeshott-’to be a conservative is to prefer the tried to the untried’

    • believe that humans lack intellectual ability and reasoning to fully understand world

    • outcome based on flawed reasoning- can’t be used

• Pragmatic decisions-based on a workable consensus and practical solutions (not ideological inflexibility)

• Oakeshott-’psychology than ideology’

Traditional Conservatism-Tradition

• firm supporters of tradition

  • generates a sense of identity

• look to past to inform present and future

• GK Chesterton-’tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes: our ancestors. It is a democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking around’

• Established customs are the ones that individuals can recognise-familiar and reassuring

• Burke-’The accumulated wisdom of the ages, as the heritage of society, is the best source of virtue and goodness’

• Tradition provides stability and continuity-feeling of ‘rootedness' and belonging

• generates social cohesion by linking people to the past and providing them with a collective sense of who they are, as they are drawn to what is familiar and constant

• Makes people feel connected to something bigger, a sense of belonging

• Change is a journey into unknown: creates uncertainty and insecurity-endangers our happiness

Traditional Conservatism-Human Imperfection-Psychologically imperfect

• humans seek security and belonging-traditional conservatives emphasize importance of social order, suspicious of liberty

• Order-human life is stable, predictable, secure

• Liberty- change, uncertainty

• Hobbes-sacrifice liberty for social order

• War natural state to humans than order-order only possible when humans abandon natural selfishness and delegate decisions to higher sovereign authority

• Hobbes- ‘state of nature’, ‘war of every man’, live in ‘continual fear, and danger of violent death’ where life would be ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’

Traditional Conservatism-Human Imperfection-Intellectually imperfect

• suspicious of abstract ideas that claim to understand what is incomprehensible

• prefer to ground decisions in tradition, experience and history, adopting a cautious, moderate and pragmatic approach-avoiding doctrinaire beliefs

• radical reform and revolution lead to more suffering

• Oakeshott-’cure is not worse than the disease’

Traditional Conservatism-Human Imperfection-Morally imperfect

• Humans persuaded to behave appropriately only if deterred from expressing anti-social impulses.

• Only effective deterrent is strictly enforced law-preference for 'tough' criminal justice, based on sentences

• Role of law is to preserve order. The concepts of 'law' and 'order' are closely related-become a single, fused concept.

Traditional Conservatism-Organicism

• Advocates of an organic society and state.

• People cannot exist separately from society and society provides individuals with a sense of security and purpose

  • society emerged naturally (organically) as it was needed

• Based on idea that unity of society is more important than rights of any individual. Maintained by a delicate set of relationships, which, if disturbed, will undermine society, leading to its breakdown

Traditional Conservatism-Authority

• Recognized importance of authority in society

• Willing acceptance of social obligations and by 'doing one's duty'.

• needs of society come before anything else and guidance is needed 'from above'

  • emphasise parents instructing children how to behave-not constraining liberty, but providing guidance for children's benefit

• a society in which individuals know only their rights, and do not undertake their duties, would be rootless and atomistic.

  • it is bonds of duty and obligation that hold society together

• Authority should be exercised within limits-these limits are imposed not by an artificial contract but by natural responsibilities that authority entails

• Parents should have authority over their children-does not imply right to treat them in any way they choose.

• Authority of a parent is intrinsically linked to obligation to nurture, guide and, if necessary, punish their children.

Traditional Conservatism-Hierarchy

• support idea of a fixed social hierarchy.

• Believe there are natural inequalities between humans which lead to a hierarchical society where, as Burke said, 'the wiser, stronger and more opulent' are at top

• Genuine social equality is a myth; in reality, there is a natural inequality of wealth and social position, justified by a corresponding inequality of social responsibilities

• working class might not enjoy same living standards and life chances as their employers, but they do not have livelihoods of others resting on their shoulders

• Hierarchy and organicism have led traditional conservatism towards paternalism.

Traditional Conservatism-Paternalism

• justified with idea that those in higher positions in societies had greater wisdom and knew what was best for whole of society

• duty of rest of society to obey those 'above them', much in same way as a child was expected to obey their father.

• based on a society which was naturally unequal

Traditional Conservatism-Economy and Property

• Understand importance of property in promoting social cohesion

• View property ownership as an extension of one's personality

• Possessions are not merely external objects, valued because they are useful, but reflect something of owner's personality and character

• A home is most personal of possessions, it is decorated and organized according to tastes of its owner.

• Strong defenders of private property and cautious of government economic intervention

Traditional Conservatism-Libertarianism

• reject ideas of libertarianism, supporting instead organic state

• value stability and continuity of society rather than freedom of individual

1 Nation Conservatism

• Benjamin Disraeli-PM in 1868 and again 1874-80.

• developed his political philosophy in 2 novels, Coningsby (1844) and Sybil (1845)-emphasized principle of social obligation

• Writing against background of growing industrialization, poverty, inequality and, in Europe, revolutionary upheaval

• realized that as capitalism thrived and ruling elite became more prosperous, working classes suffering increased

• Drew attention to danger of Britain being divided into 2: rich and poor.

• Never used term 'One Nation'

• sought to bridge divide through paternalistic policies that encouraged wealthy to assist less well-off.

• Based on feudal principle of noblesse oblige, obligation of aristocracy to be honourable and generous

• His ideas contributed to a reforming tradition that appealed to pragmatic instincts and sense of social duty

• Crystal Palace speech of 1872-3 objectives: to maintain institutions of country, uphold empire and elevate condition of people.

1 Nation-Pragmatism

• pragmatic approach

• Disraeli understood that growing social inequality contained seeds of revolution; a poor and oppressed working class, he feared, would not accept its misery

• Revolutions in Europe in 1830 and 1848

• Reform would be sensible, because stemming tide of revolution would be in interests of rich and privileged

• Disraeli understood that a One Nation approach would enable conservatives to reach out to all sections of society

• 'The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.'-Disraeli

• Pragmatic balance- 'rights' of individual and collectivist desire of emerging socialist traditions.

• Pragmatic conservatives support neither individual nor state, but are prepared to support either or recommend a balance between the 2, depending on 'what works'

1 Nation-Tradition

• support tradition

• sought to unify people by encouraging them to look to past in considering future

• Key aim-order and social harmony-threatened by emergence of capitalism and insecurity it created

• Disraeli concerned that society would fracture if capitalism was left to its own devices and understood that action was necessary

• balance need for change and desire to conserve society as it was

• In seeking reform, careful to ensure that it came via respected traditional institutions of state rather than via rebellion

• Sought to bring people from all walks of life closer together and thereby forge one cohesive nation

• his reforming agenda was successful in satisfying working classes while maintaining status quo for ruling elite

• Sought to preserve and respect traditions of society and its key institutions, while establishing gradual, but necessary change.

• Understood that maintaining traditions and customs that had been around for generations helped to make people feel safe and secure in a changing world.

1 Nation-Organic society, authority and hierarchy

• Belief in organic society is idea that society is more important than individual and that a cohesive, united society is important

• Supporters of organicism.

• Disraeli's concern about social division shows commitment to creating unity.

• Disraeli believed problems created by capitalism were everyone's responsibility

• Appealed to moral values of aristocracy

• Suggested that wealth and privilege brought with them social obligations, in particular a responsibility for less well-off (noblesse oblige)

• He believed that society was naturally hierarchic, but that inequalities of wealth or privilege gave rise to an inequality of responsibilities.

• wealthy and powerful have burden of social responsibility

1 Nation-Paternalism

• softened approach-needed to persuade people that their approach was beneficial to upper and working classes

• 'we can look after you; we can support and protect you' approach.

• Disraeli committed his governments to improving conditions of working classes

• Disraeli's reforms popular among newly enfranchised working classes-prevented emergence of rebellion or revolution.

• able to portray a caring image to working classes who do not naturally benefit from preserving society as it is

1 Nation-Human Imperfection

• synergy between views of traditional conservatives and One Nation conservatives over human imperfection

• psychological, moral and intellectual

• appeal to patriotism and organicism-link to psychological imperfection

• recognize that humans need to feel safe and secure

• Patriotism unites people of all classes under common banner of 'the nation' and gives them a feeling of togetherness and belonging

• An organic view of society relates to psychological imperfection where everyone is safe and secure in 'their place' and life is stable with no fear of revolution

• understanding of intellectual imperfection

• suggests that humans have limited rational capacities and to be fearful of doctrinaire ideas

• recognize that world is too complex for humans to understand, and an approach based on 'what works' and experience is always best-paternalistic approach to reform

• By letting ruling elite make decision for betterment of working classes, recognize limited rational capacities of humans.

Lastly, their need for order in society is linked to their belief in moral imperfection. One Nation conservatives emphasis on order in society is evidence of their agreement with this aspect of human imperfection. While Disraeli wished to improve the working conditions of the working class, he believed that the working classes needed moral guidance from the ruling elite.

1 Nation-The Economy and Property

• Disraeli feared free-market capitalism was causing social division and introduced reforms to improve conditions for the working class.

• His reforms aimed to prevent social unrest and secure working-class support for the Conservative Party.

• Later, One Nation conservatism in the 1950s-60s supported a mixed economy and welfare provision to maintain social stability.

• David Cameron revived 'compassionate conservatism,' though its impact was mainly rhetorical.

• One Nation conservatism focuses on preserving hierarchy and preventing threats to the social order through limited interventions.

1 Nation-Libertarianism

As with traditional conservatism, One Nation conservatives reject the premise of atomistic individualism, and human rationality in favour of a pragmatic, organic, paternalist approach to society.

New Right Conservatism

• The New Right combines neoliberalism's free-market focus with neoconservatism's emphasis on order and authority.

• It supports a strong but minimal state: reducing economic intervention while enforcing social order.

• Developed in the 1970s as a reaction against Keynesian policies.

• Thatcher's government in the UK exemplified this by privatizing industries, cutting taxes, reducing welfare, and deregulating the economy.

New Right-Neoliberalism

• Neoliberalism supports a minimal state, viewing government as harmful to individual freedom.

• It trusts the market to drive efficiency, growth, and prosperity.

• Emphasizes self-reliance and rational decision-making.

• Opposes public ownership, favoring privatization and deregulation.

• Critiques government intervention, arguing it causes economic problems rather than solving them.

New Right-Neoconservatism

• Neoconservatism reacts against the permissive values of the 1960s.

• It emphasizes the need for order, public morality, and national identity.

• Supports a strong state to restore public order, reinforce family values, and promote patriotism.

• Opposes permissiveness, advocating for traditional family structures and authority.

• Criticizes multiculturalism and supports limited immigration to protect national identity.

• In foreign policy, it emphasizes strengthening the nation against external threats.

• Thatcher's policies, like Section 28, reflect neoconservative values by opposing alternative lifestyles and promoting 'Victorian values.'

New Right-Pragmatism

• The New Right favors ideology over pragmatism, believing in firm, theory-based beliefs.

• They see humans as rational and capable of improving the world.

• This contrasts with traditional conservatives, who prefer pragmatism and believe the world is too complex for complete understanding.

• Influenced by thinkers like Smith, Hayek, Friedman, and Rand, the New Right supports laissez-faire capitalism.

• Rand advocated for separating state and economics, emphasizing individual rights over state control.

• This ideology opposes the pragmatic approach of traditional conservatism.

New Right-Tradition

• Traditional and One Nation conservatives favored gradual, incremental change, respecting the past.

• The New Right, however, pursued radical, fundamental changes to society.

• They sought extreme change based on free-market economics (neoliberalism) and social authoritarianism (neoconservatism).

• Ayn Rand, a key influence, advocated for private enterprise and was a "radical for capitalism."

• This approach contrasts sharply with traditional conservatives' preference for preserving the best of the past and making slow, considered changes.

New Right-Organic society, authority and hierarchy

• The New Right exhibits contradictory attitudes towards the concept of an organic society.

• Neoliberalism rejects the idea of a cohesive, organic society, focusing on individualism and self-sufficiency. It views welfare as creating dependency and undermining self-respect, advocating for meritocracy instead of hierarchy.

• Neoconservatism, in contrast, emphasizes restoring traditional authority, moral foundations, and national identity to strengthen social order. It aligns with traditional conservatism by valuing authority but differs from One Nation conservatism, which supports community through social reform rather than strict discipline.

New Right-Paternalism

• Neoconservatism within the New Right is characterized by authoritarianism, contrasting with the paternalistic approach of Traditional and One Nation conservatism.

• Neoconservatives, including Thatcher’s government, governed with an authoritative stance, prioritizing their ideological convictions over the immediate effects on the population.

• They criticized permissive values and social changes, advocating for strict family values and tougher law enforcement to combat perceived moral decline and anti-social behavior.

• This approach includes harsh crime policies and longer prison sentences, reflecting a belief in strict punishment rather than addressing social causes.

• In contrast, neoliberalism, also part of the New Right, opposes such authoritarianism, advocating for reduced government intervention to protect individual freedom and autonomy.

New Right-Human Nature

• The New Right exhibits two distinct and contradictory views on human nature: neoliberalism and neoconservatism.

• Neoliberalism:

  • Foundation: Atomistic individualism, where individuals are seen as rational agents making decisions based on self-interest.

  • Belief: People owe nothing to society and are not owed anything by society. Libertarians like Nozick and Rand advocate for minimal state interference and emphasize self-sovereignty and rational self-interest.

  • Example: Nozick’s opposition to using state power for redistributing wealth or regulating personal behavior.

• Neoconservatism:

  • Foundation: The belief that individuals are imperfect and need guidance from authority to maintain moral standards.

  • Belief: Individual freedom can lead to immoral choices and moral pluralism undermines societal cohesion.

  • Example: Neoconservatives' focus on restoring traditional moral values and authority to combat perceived social decay.

• Contradiction: The New Right's approach is inconsistent, presenting a divide between the rational, self-reliant individual championed by neoliberalism and the morally guided, authority-dependent individual promoted by neoconservatism.

New Right-Libertarianism

It is clear that within the New Right, neoliberalism is entirely libertarian in its approach. However, the New Right are not consistent libertarians. While economically they believe in economic individualism and 'getting government off the back of business', the neoconservative element are less prepared to extend this principle of individual liberty to other aspects of social life. Consistent libertarians like Nozick and Rand are coherent and extend this thinking to all aspects of social life as well as the economic sphere.

New Right-the economy and property

The New Right approach to property is consistent from both the neoliberal and the neoconservative aspects. They support private property and believe that property ownership is an important aspect of society. However, despite this consensus, neoliberalism advocated property as a reflection of effort, it is earned by hard work and they believe the ability to accumulate wealth is an important economic incentive. Neoconservatism supports property ownership for the values it creates; it gives people a stake in society, it encourages them to want to protect their property from harm and promotes order in society.

Thomas Hobbes

• Absolute Government: Hobbes argued that only a strong, absolute government could prevent chaos and maintain social order.

• State of Nature: He viewed it as a state of constant conflict and insecurity, requiring a powerful authority to ensure safety and peace.

• Social Contract: People give up most of their freedoms to a sovereign in exchange for protection and order.

• Human Nature: Hobbes had a pessimistic view, believing humans are naturally violent and self-interested, needing authoritarian rule to suppress their worst instincts.

Edmund Burke

• Opposition to Radical Change: In Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke criticized radical change driven by abstract principles. He believed political change should be cautious, gradual, and based on an understanding of historical context rather than speculative ideas.

• Importance of Tradition: Burke valued tradition, arguing that society is a contract between the living, the dead, and the unborn. He believed that rights and wisdom are passed down through generations, and preserving tradition ensures stability and continuity.

• Organic Society: Burke saw society as an organic whole with natural hierarchies and roles, where individuals are connected to their communities. He advocated for a paternalistic approach, suggesting that only the aristocracy, due to their wisdom, should govern.

Michael Oakeshott

• Human Imperfection: Oakeshott believed that political ideas are beyond human understanding and that the world is unpredictable. He argued that instead of radical changes, leaders should focus on maintaining stability, likening political activity to navigating a boundless, unpredictable sea.

• Conservative Disposition: In On Being Conservative, Oakeshott emphasized preferring familiar, tested solutions over untried, abstract ideals. This reflects a conservative preference for the actual and the immediate over the distant and perfect.

• Anti-Rationalism: Oakeshott critiqued rationalism, which claims there are correct answers to political questions. He argued that politics should be based on practical experience and consensus rather than ideology, advocating for a conservative approach rooted in tradition and established customs.

Ayn Rand

• Objectivism: emphasizes rational individualism, where personal happiness is the ultimate moral goal. She described it as a practical philosophy that views reason and rational self-interest as essential for a fulfilling life.

• Rational Egoism: advocated for rational egoism, the idea that individuals should act in their own self-interest without sacrificing themselves to others or others to themselves. She rejected altruism and saw it as a threat to personal freedom and happiness.

• Freedom and Capitalism: defended laissez-faire capitalism as the system that best ensures individual freedom and allows productive elites to thrive. Her novel Atlas Shrugged portrays a dystopian society crippled by state intervention, highlighting the importance of individual achievement and minimal government control.

Robert nozick

• Libertarianism: In Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), Nozick advocates for a minimal state, which only protects individuals from force, theft, and fraud, and enforces contracts. He argues that any state beyond this level infringes on individual rights.

• Taxation and Entitlement Theory: Nozick considers taxation as 'legalized slavery,' arguing that compulsory taxes for redistribution are unjust and equate to forced labor. His entitlement theory rejects Rawls' distributive justice by asserting that property rights are legitimate if acquired through just means—either through original acquisition, voluntary transfer, or rectifying past injustices. A distribution is just if everyone holds their property according to these principles.

Traditional Conservatism-Pragmatism

• Pragmatism would bring about change organically

• Base actions on experience (empiricism)

• Do not want to be tied down to a rigid set of beliefs

• This is because they believe that humans lack intellectual ability and reasoning to fully understand world

  • outcome based on flawed reasoning can’t be used

Traditional Conservatism- Tradition

• Generates a sense of identity-look to past to inform present and future

  • Established customs are the ones that individuals can recognise-familiar and reassuring

  • Tradition provides stability and continuity-feeling of ‘rootedness' and belonging

• Generates social cohesion by linking people to the past and providing them with a collective sense of who they are, as they are drawn to what is familiar and constant

  • Makes people feel connected to something bigger, a sense of belonging

• Change is a journey into unknown: creates uncertainty and insecurity-endangers our happiness

Traditional Conservatism-Human Imperfection

• Psychologically Imperfect

  • Humans seek security and belonging

  • Emphasise importance of social order-suspicious of liberty

    • Order-human life is stable, predictable, secure

    • Liberty- change, uncertainty

  • War natural state to humans

    • Order only possible when humans abandon natural selfishness- give decisions to higher authority

• Intellectually Imperfect

  • Suspicious of abstract ideas that claim to understand what is incomprehensible

  • Prefer to ground decisions in tradition, experience and history

    • Cautious, moderate and pragmatic approach-avoiding doctrinaire beliefs

  • Radical reform and revolution lead to more suffering

• Morally Imperfect

  • Humans persuaded to behave appropriately only if deterred from anti-social impulses

    • Only effective deterrent=strictly enforced la

    • preference for 'tough' criminal justice, based on sentences

  • Role of law is to preserve order

    • Concepts of 'law' and 'order' are a single, fused concept.

Traditional Conservatism-Organicism

• Society provides individuals with a sense of security and purpose

  • People cannot exist separately from society

• Society emerged naturally (organically) as it was needed

• Unity of society is more important than rights of any individual

  • Maintained by a delicate set of relationships, which, if disturbed, will undermine society, leading to its breakdown

Traditional Conservatism-Paternalism

• Duty of rest of society to obey those 'above them'

  • Same way as a child was expected to obey their father

  • Those in higher positions in societies had greater wisdom and knew what was best for whole of society

Traditional Conservatism- Libertarianism

• Reject ideas of libertarianism-supporting instead organic state

• Value stability and continuity of society rather than freedom of individual

1 Nation- Pragmatism

• Pragmatic approach

• Pragmatic balance- 'rights' of individual and collectivist desire of emerging socialist traditions

• Support neither individual nor state

  • prepared to support either or recommend a balance between the 2, depending on 'what works'

1 Nation-Tradition

• Unify people by honoring the past when planning for the future.

• Preserve order and social harmony, especially amidst capitalist changes.

• Balance change with the desire to conserve traditional values.

• Support gradual reform through respected institutions, not rebellion.

• Bring people together for a cohesive society and safeguard established customs for stability in a shifting world

1 Nation- Human Imperfection

synergy between views of traditional conservatives and One Nation conservatives over human imperfection
psychological, moral and intellectual
appeal to patriotism and organicism-link to psychological imperfection
recognize that humans need to feel safe and secure
Patriotism unites people of all classes under common banner of 'the nation' and gives them a feeling of togetherness and belonging
An organic view of society relates to psychological imperfection where everyone is safe and secure in 'their place' and life is stable with no fear of revolution
understanding of intellectual imperfection
suggests that humans have limited rational capacities and to be fearful of doctrinaire ideas
recognize that world is too complex for humans to understand, and an approach based on 'what works' and experience is always best-paternalistic approach to reform
By letting ruling elite make decision for betterment of working classes, recognize limited rational capacities of humans
Lastly, their need for order in society is linked to their belief in moral imperfection. One Nation conservatives emphasis on order in society is evidence of their agreement with this aspect of human imperfection. While Disraeli wished to improve the working conditions of the working