Ideologies: Conservatism

Question 1

Why do conservatives stress tradition? [2]

What quote highlights conservative support of tradition?

Answer 1

• Because it brings order, and thus prevents society from breaking down without a central authority. Otherwise life would be “nasty, brutish and short”, in the words of Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan.
• Because it provides people with a sense of belonging and rootedness; they go to their church, are part of their community and identify with their monarch

“Tradition is the accumulated wisdom of the past” - Edmund Burke

Question 2

Why do conservatives value institutions?

What weakened this argument and how?

Answer 2

Because they serve a purpose and have stood the test of time and in doing so have proved their worth meaning that they are worth keeping.

The coming of the enlightenment weakened this argument seen as God-given traditions were brought into question in favour of rationalism

Question 3

What is the conservative view on human imperfection?

Answer 3

• Humans, flawed and incapable of perfectibility, have a strong capacity for evil and need to be kept in check by government
• Thus conservatives believe government should put strong focus on law and order
• Moreover, New Right conservatives believe that due to human fallibility, private ownership of property is useful as it not only gives you a stake in society and thus a motivating influence but it also provides something to fall back on in hard times. See with Thatcher Right To Buy Scheme 1980.

Question 4

What is anomie? How do conservatives seek to prevent it?

Answer 4

Anomie is the feeling of disillusionment and alienation from society.

Conservatives seek to prevent it by upholding family, traditional values and community to keep people involved and rooted in society.

Question 5

What do conservatives believe about societal inequality and hierarchy?

Answer 5

Conservatives frequently refer to hierarchy - talent is unevenly distributed and some people are born to do things better than others.

Inequality is natural and justified. Those with the greatest rewards often bear the biggest responsibilities - employing people paying wages and wellbeing of the workforce.

Question 6

How do conservatives justify authority?

Answer 6

It provides people with direction, giving them a sense of how they fit in and what to do.

Those in authority should, and broadly speaking do (though far less as of recently) set an example to be admired.

Question 7

Key Thinker: Thomas Hobbes

What was Hobbes’ view of the state of nature? How did it justify his view of the state?

Answer 7

Hobbes believed that humans in a state of nature would turn savage and ruthlessly egotistical in the pursuit of power and life would be “nasty, brutish and short”. Strictly pessimistic view.

Thus, for him, we need strong authority in government to protect the inherently needy and vulnerable human species. He believes that even if this comes at the suppression of some rights, the ultimate goal to which people consent to this government is protection.

So if it fails to protect people, then and only then are they justified in revolting.

Question 8

Outline Hobbes’ full view on the state. [4]

Answer 8

• Hobbes believed in strict obedience to a strong authoritarian government to prevent chaos and violence.
• In his state, the people surrender all their natural rights except the right to self-defense in return for order, protection and security at the hands of the state.
• He believed most rational people would consent to this contract of sorts and thus argued it was a government by consent (of the governed).
• So, for him, the primary and perhaps only goal of the state is to prevent anarchy and protect its citizens at any cost.

Question 9

What is the Hobbesian argument for human consent to authoritarian government?

Why did he believe anything other than an authoritarian government would eventually collapse into a state of nature?

Answer 9

He did believe in a degree of rationalism - that rational humans would acknowledge their need for protection and would thus prefer a rigid social order and a rigid state to lawlessness and the chaos of a “state of nature” which would arise from any alternative to authoritarianism.

It would collapse as it would mean power isn’t centralised in one place, which, to Hobbes, would always eventually lead to conflicting factions which have power and would eventually lead to national fragmentation.

Question 10

What were Edmund Burke’s views on change?

Answer 10

He believed that change could happen, but it should be piecemeal, and should be done by “grafting” or “pruning” rather than wiping away institutions.

He also believed that change should be based on empiricism, fact and tradition ie the “tested” wisdom of the past.

Question 11

What were Edmund Burke’s views on society?

Answer 11

He believed strongly in an “organic” society, and thus one that has hierarchy and inequality. This means a society that can only emerge gradually and cannot be planned or created. The state should act according to the composition of this society and to protect this organic system.

He believed that this is expected but that noblesse oblige means that classes work to each others’ benefits

Question 12

What were Edmund Burke’s views on the state?

Answer 12

The state must preserve social order and stability above all else.

It should also act on tradition and empiricism - if an institution has lasted this long, it ought to be trusted according to Burke.

Question 13

What does Burke believe about “Little Platoons”?

Answer 13

He supported their existence, whereby groups and communities fill out small functions to maintain order and community on a local scale.

Argues that these are useful in fostering national pride and tradition without the need for a large state. Ensures people get such support and belonging without a remote and impersonal bureaucracy.

Question 14

How do Oakeshott’s views on human nature differ from the views of the New Right?

Answer 14

Oakeshott believed that humans are flawed but not evil (“imperfect but not immoral”).

Not so much as Hobbes (O believed humans were “fallible but not terrible”), but not as positive as NR (who believe humans are intellectually strong but morally weak)

Question 15

What does Oakeshott believe about the state?

Answer 15

That it exists “to prevent the bad rather than create the good”, which follows through on his traditional conservative belief in empiricism and experience from which the state should derive its actions.

Question 16

What famous comparison did Oakeshott make with the state?

Answer 16

He compared the job of the state to a ship at sea: the state is meant to keep the ship afloat without a necessary destination.

This is again conservative as it implies a distrust of people who have a destination ie a utopia.

The state should be a steadying force.

Question 17

What were Oakeshott’s views on change?

Answer 17

He believed it was bad as humans preferred the familiar to the unknown, “the tried to the untried, fact to mystery” and “the near to the distant.”

He had similar views to Burke - both wanted to preserve existing and familiar institutions due to experience and familiarity.

Question 18

What do traditional conservatives believe about order and stability?

Answer 18

That it is the key role of the state: people crave safety, familiarity and security. Liberty raises the unsettling prospect of choice, change and uncertainty. Social order, to Hobbesian traditional conservatives, comes before liberty.

Question 19

What do traditional conservatives believe about class/inequality/property?

Did Burke have anything notable to say about private property?

Answer 19

They believe in protecting private property, privilege and class.

Tradcons tend also (use Burke if you want to argue this) to believe in paternalism; wealth and inequality is natural and desirable to them.

As long as the upper classes uphold their crucial responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of the lower classes and rest of society, there will be societal stability, the ultimate conservative goal.

Property is the basis for paternalism and provides a degree of durability and stability through private enterprise and ownership.

Yes - he believed it ought to be protected as property provides a tangible basis for ‘little platoons’ through localised institutions like churches and schools. He also supported “organic” free markets, tying into his belief in organicism.

Question 20

What do some traditional conservatives believe about pragmatism?

Answer 20

They support it. Burke, for example, notably advocated for the idea of “change to conserve”, embracing moderate reform in the name of continuity.

This, they hope, avoids radical overhaul or even removal of institutions.

Question 21

What do ONCs believe about class and order? How does this link to pragmatism?

Answer 21

They believe that it is the duty of the governing classes to practice noblesse oblige as is their responsibility.

This ensures that the nation remains united and does not become two nations separated by class divisions.

Thus uses pragmatism to prevent revolution through change (protecting the lower classes) to conserve social order and stability.

Question 22

What are ONC views on the economy and the state?

What is this known as?

Famous Disraeli quote linked to this?

Answer 22

They favour a larger, more interventionist (proto-Keynesian) state.

They believe that economic intervention on the state’s part is necessary to satisfy the lower classes and maintain social order.

Hard paternalism.

“The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy”

Question 23

What are ONC views on inequality?

Answer 23

That is is natural but that the social order in which it exists needs to be protected through welfarism.

The top of the hierarchy is needed to preserve an organic society through this economic interventionism, and it is their duty to care for the poor.

Question 24

What are New Right views on human nature, order and stability?

Answer 24

They believe that it is crucial and cannot come without an authoritative state.

They believe that human nature is imperfect and thus needs controlling to prevent a permissive society.

Question 25

What are New Right views on the state and the economy?

Answer 25

They believe that the state should be libertarian and nightwatchman on many issues such as economics. They believe, as such in laissez-faire and unbridled capitalism. This is the neoliberal aspect of the New Right which seeks to prevent dependency culture. To an extent, their economic policy is driven by their views on human nature: let people succeed according to their talents through laissez-faire, and thus inequality is fine (this is basically classical liberalism repackaged). However, they are socially conservative (neoconservative) and believe in a strong state to protect social order and the rule of law.

Question 26

What part of New Right Conservatism does Ayn Rand represent?

Answer 26

Neoliberalism

Question 27

What are Rand's views on human nature? ## Footnote Quote from her?

Answer 27

Believes firmly in egotistical indvidualism and that laissez-faire is the only system that respects individual rights fully. She also believes that humans are, to an extent, rational and smart and can be guided by ideology; thus they should have a nightwatchman state to ensure they can choose their own path. ## Footnote "The small state is the strong state"

Question 28

What are Rand's views on society?

Answer 28

Believes in an atomistic society: a collection of individuals. It is talented individuals, not governments, that lie at the heart of a successful society. Thus less strongly supports the idea of a society unrestricted by the state.

Question 29

What are Rand's views on the state?

Answer 29

Nightwatchman state. All the other Rand flashcards sort of tie into this so it is really not worth going into again. Put simply, minimal state means maximal individual rights and as humans are rational and egotistically individualist, will lead to a better society as a whole. So less state intervention except for bare essentials such as security and protection. She still maintained that none of this could happen without a state providing order and security.

Question 30

What was Nozick's view of human nature?

Answer 30

A little less optimistic than Rand's but still relatively good: he believed humans are driven by a quest for self-ownership, not self-fulfillment (which Rand thought). He still used this as a justification for state ensuring order and security. He believed without a state guaranteeing these things, life, liberty and property rights would be taken for granted That said, he believed that as humans were self-fulfilling and rational, they could be left to freely operate in the economy. This creates the purest form of meritocracy where a deserving hierarchy can be formed.

Question 31

What was Nozick's view of the state?

Answer 31

That it should be 'minarchist', completely outsourcing, renewing and reallocating contracts to private companies providing public services.