6.1 Conservatism core ideas Flashcards
1
Q
6
List the core ideas of conservatism
A
- Pragmatism
- Tradition
- Human imperfection
- Organic state/society
- Paternalism
- Libertarianism
2
Q
6
Describe pragmatism
A
- Decisions should value practical experience (what works) over ideology (realism not idealism)
- Rigid adherence leads to radical change that creates unstable society
- Thus flexible approach to society needed
- Humans not rational to implement abstract strategies in complex reality
- Advocate incrimental, pragmatic change to preserve essential institutions within society
- Closely linked to Traditional/ON Conservatives who see pragmatism as most important core value
3
Q
3
Describe disunity on pragmatism
A
- Traditional/ON conservatives use pragmatism as reasoning for accepting middle-way to economy
- e.g. Disraeli’s Artisans Dwelling Act (1875) - slum clearances in response to industrial revolution
- Neo-liberals reject this pragmatic approach due to posiitve view of human nature and rationalism
4
Q
4
Describe tradition
A
- Institutions (monarchy, religion, customs, practices) should be preserved
- If something survives the test of time, they offer value to previous and future generations
- Accumulated wisdom of past generations creates connection and stability between generations
- Tradition creates sense of identity and furthers social cohesion, enhancing human security
5
Q
5
Describe tradition’s link to organic society
A
- society has evolved naturally, not radically
- maintenance of tradition needed to avoid instability, anxiety and insecurity (e.g. Terror of French Revolution)
- Change should only be considered if slow and if it enhances exisiting institutions/practices
- Burke: ‘change to conserve’
- Hobbes opposed devolution, HoL reform, republicanism
6
Q
4
Describe disunity on tradition
A
- Traditional/ON feared intellectual replacement of religion with rationalism via secularisation
- Argued secularisation weakened ties to tradition and conservative values
- Opposed by neo-libs
- Later ON advocated keynesian economics, a rational economic blueprint of state management that broke long-standing tradition of laissez-faire
7
Q
3
Describe the 3 types of human imperfection
A
- Morally - motivated by selfish desires
- Intellectually - little capacity for rational thinking (true nature of reality beyond understanding)
- Psychologically - seek security and dependence - so need tradition and social order
8
Q
4
Describe Hobbesian imperfection
A
- Humans flawed and unchangeable
- Neglect responsibilities of wider society
- Self-seeking and driven by ‘desire of power’
- reject utopias and question their potentiality
9
Q
3
How did Hobbes propose maintaining order
A
- Social contract needed where individuals traded personal freedoms for state protections
- Needed to prevent perpetual conflict of ‘state of nature’ created by self-interest
- Advocated monarchy in strong goverment to keep humanity in check
10
Q
2
Describe human imperfection and irrationality
A
- Humans irrational and driven by desires of power, wealth and property
- Cannot be trusted to govern for others - ‘leviathan’ needed
11
Q
4
Describe human imperfection and society/crime
A
- Humans have capacity for evil
- Thus law and order required to deter criminal behaviour
- Crime should be punished to act as deterrent
- Society can keep individuals in check through education, tough prison sentences
12
Q
3
Describe the policy applications of human imperfection
A
- strong on law and oder
- FP based on national security
- promotion of self interest
13
Q
4
Describe disunity on human imperfection
A
- Trad Con, ON and neo-Con all agree that humans are imperfect
- Neo-liberals reject human imperfection outright, arguing humans are capable of ratioanlity
- Rand and Nozick argue this rationalism means people make self-serving decisions in their best interests (agree on ends, though not reasons)
- Hobbesian imperfection vs Burkean/Oakeshott imperfection
14
Q
4
Describe the organic state/society
A
- Made up of many connected individual parts, with the sum (society and state) being greater than those individual parts
- Not created, but grows in slow, evolutionary matter to prevent anomie and instability
- Society like living organism - needs education system and family structure to work properly
- Breakdown in one or more structures in society leads to breakdown of society as whole
15
Q
2
How are structures within the organic society/state maintained?
A
- Tradition inherent to provide authority and maintain structure
- All branches accept natural heirarchy where humans have differing abilities - maintains authority in society even if unequal
16
Q
4
Describe anomie
A
- Humans naturally dependent on one another
- If they are isolated from society, they will suffer from anomie
- Anomie - do not feel invested in society’s shared norms and values
- Leads to crime and discontent, none of which is good for society
17
Q
4
Describe Traditional Conservative views on organic state/society
A
- State provides order
- Society emerges organically
- Matures into traditions and customs
- Burke spoke of ‘little platoons’ which would enable integration into wider society
18
Q
3
Describe disunity on organic society among conservatives
A
- Hobbes preferred sovereign to control all aspects of society (law, religion and parliament) and economy (private property and taxation)
- Other Trad Cons (Burke/Oakeshott) + ON/neo-Cons favoured constitution monarchy established during Glorious Revolution of 1868
- Hobbes - sovereign personifies state; Other - smaller communities do
19
Q
3
Describe paternalism
A
- Society inherently unequal and hierarchical, which forms dominant part of society
- Within natural order of society, elite are natural leaders
- noblesse oblige
20
Q
3
Describe noblesse oblige
A
- Elite held responsibility to help less fortunate in society
- This was necessary to protect traditional hierarchy and organic state
- paternalism therefore a pragmatic response to counter societal and economic issues
21
Q
2
Describe Traditional Conservative views on paternalism
A
- Society naturally unequal and hierarchal
- Ruling elite had duty of care for those who could not act in their own interests (noblesse oblige)
22
Q
4
Describe One-Nation views on paternalism
A
- Ruling elite held obligation to industrial WC to enact social reforms and limited welfarism
- Paternalistic change governed by empircism
- later influenced by rational ideas of state management of Keynesian economics
- Larger state spending and welfare state involvement (would have not been sanctioned by earlier ON - yet demonstrates organic change)
23
Q
3
Describe neo-conservative views on paternalism
A
- Criticise ON version of paternalistic welfarism as breeding state dependency
- acknowledge need for state intervention in society - but limit scale of assistance
- e.g. state has duty to pay for primary/secondary education, but students must pay for higher education
24
Q
7
Describe neo-liberal views on paternalism
A
- Outright reject state-sponsored paternalism
- paternalism restricts negative freedom as individuals obligated to pay taxation to fund welfare state they may not support
- Noblesse oblige arrests individuals from self-development (learning from mistakes) as they are dependent on state (link with neo-Con)
- Paternalism creates state-dependent underclass
- Society is atomistic, rather than organic
- Nozick: ‘there are only individual people… with their own lives’
- Rand argued for voluntarism - individuals rationally decide themselves whether to be charitable
25
Q
4
Describe neo-liberal views libertarianism
A
- Minimal state with laissez-faire economics
- Focus on negative freedom
- Paternalism infringes on individual rights
- Explained by belief in ‘atomistic individualism’ (Rand) that facilitates autonomy and sufficiency
26
Q
3
Describe unity on libertarianism
A
- Traditional Conservatives equally advocated minimal state with limited economic intervention
- Neo-libs/Neo-Cons agree that welfare programmes create ‘dependency culture’ where people free of burden of looking after themselves
- e.g unemployment payment disincentivises work, harming wider society
27
Q
3
Describe disunity on libertarianism
A
- Traditional Conservatives support minimal state due to organic state/society; neo-libs support due to belief in rationality
- Neo-conservatives support welfare state - but far less so than ON who support partnernalism and maintenance of organic society
- Neo-libs reject empiricism and human imperfection of other branches
