New Right Conservatism Flashcards
Thinkers
Rand
Nozick
Human nature
Is negative e.g. humans are selfish, desiring of power, imperfect.
Cannot be transformed or fundamentally improved & therefore society needs to be designed around controlling humans ability to harm others e.g. Kant “from the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made”.
Believe competition is natural & so tend to prefer democracy & capitalism (despite believing both inevitably have many imperfections).
Atomism
People are atomised and individualistic. Society does exist, but it is of secondary importance. Rand argued strongly that individualism was more moral than altruism, which ultimately leads to tyranny and corruption).
Society
Social order is absolutely fundamental and social order is held together by a consensus over societal norms and values.
Society is profoundly unequal and this is both natural and organic; because people have different talents & because of natural human individualism. In attempting to make an equal society, governments tend to take away liberty, which is undesirable.
People are driven by self-interest and greed. This is the most capitalist form of conservatism, and free-market economics and free will, mean people will fit into their place in society based on their natural abilities.
State
The state must always be the servant of the people.
Economically minimalist, whilst socially a strong state in areas such as law and order and morality, but a very much reduced role in issues such as social justice and the ‘caring’ professions.
Classical liberal influences dictate a minimal role for the government telling people how to live their lives (anti the ‘nanny’ state).
Neo-conservative influences suggest a strong traditionally moral dimension. People’s ‘liberal’ choice of lifestyle needs to be contained and controlled so it does not upset social cohesion.
Welfare
Against welfarism; they believe it leads to ‘big government’ and to ‘dependency culture’.
They argue leads to a loss of freedom & pride when their personal responsibility is removed; anti-competitive, drain on resources & encourages people to ‘live off the state’.
Economy
A firm belief in free-market economics.; laissez-faire approach; intervention creates distortion and prevents the market from working as effectively as it could.
Governments should concentrate on ensuring low inflation policies (e.g. monetarism)
Government is less concerned about unemployment.
Privatisation; state-run industries are inefficient, in part due to ‘public choice theory’ which argues state industries are run for the good of the workers, not the consumers.
Taxation and spending should be minimised; ‘night watchman’.
Ideology
This is the most ideological principled strand.
Tradition is important in the social agenda. But this strand believes very firmly in new theories and theorising particularly in the field of economics.
Change
Change is essential economically to promote prosperity that is only possible because of the free market. Free market capitalism is inevitably fast-paced. Change in social areas is not at all welcome, and we advocate ‘traditional values’.
Order, authority and hierarchy
Order, authority and hierarchy are seen as essential elements to society.
Crime
Crime is caused by a lack of respect and fear of authority. Therefore it is very important to ensure there is a large level of respect for authority and punishment to reduce crime. Crime is the fault of individuals and not the fault of society – indeed in this respect “there is no such thing as society”.
Individual rights
Individual rights are important in some respects e.g. economic freedom and no nanny state. Nevertheless, people must be ‘guided’ away from ‘unnatural’ deviance (e.g. homosexuality). Individual rights will never be more important than social order.
Immigration and multiculturalism
Multiculturalism breeds instability and is very concerning. Immigrants to a new country need to be fully loyal to that country and take Norman Tebbit’s ‘cricket test’. Real extremists of this strand would ban immigration and may repatriate people.
Nationalism and the nation-state
This conservative strand sees the nation and national pride as essential. In particular, the main threat to the nation is seen as ‘the nation within’ i.e. any multicultural elements.
