Traditional Conservatism Flashcards
Explain views on human nature in traditional Conservatism
1) The state of nature
= Human nature is ruthlessly selfish, calculating and competitive
- Hobbes argued without the restraints of formal authority, relations between human beings would be marked by ‘envy, hatred and war’, leading to a life that was ‘nasty, brutish and short’
- State of nature according to Hobbes, was a state of war
- Conservatives inclined to restrain optimism by stressing the frailty and fallibility of human nature
- -Need institution and the state to enforce law and order
2) Dystopianism
= Burke duly rejected the idea that human nature was guided mainly by reason and dismissed any notion that mankind could plan the near-perfect society
– They look at what humanity is, rather than what it could or should be
– Role of politicians - accommodate, not alter, this reality
-Organic society - examples
3) Original Sin
= Drawing upon the biblical principle of original sin, Burke highlighted the ‘chasm between our desire and our achievement’ and thus stressed custom, habit and experience as indicators as to how we should behave
- They regard human nature as a ‘philosophy of imperfection’, inspired by Old Testement doctorine of Original Sin.
- They deny any possibility of a perfect, utopian society comprising of rational individuals, like the ideas proposed by Liberals
- Their view of humanity is pessimistic
- They argue that they view humanity as it is rather than as it could or should be
– Oakeshott = human nature was “fragile and fallible”, yet it was also “benign and benevolent”,”fallible but not terrible”, “imperfect but not immoral”
– Oakeshott = “not so much nasty, brutish and short…as noisy, foolish and flawed”
– Hobbes = Human life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”
Explain views on society in traditional Conservatism
= Conservatism’s view of society is defined by a variety of themes, all of which are thought conducive to stability, security and orderly change as opposed to revolutionary proposed by liberals
1) Tradition
Overview:
= passing of institutions, customs or beliefs from generation to generation
- Things have and should endure through time - ‘God-given’
- Conservation
- “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” - law of unintended consequences - if you meddle - produce new problems
Justification:
[I] Reflects cumulative wisdom of the past
- Burke: “‘A partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born”
- Learn from past generations
- Tested by time
- G.K. Chesterton = “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead”
– “Just as a plant’s new leaves are connected and dependent on the roots, so a society’s present direction stems from its past development” = Oakeshott
– Churchill = the further into the past you look, the clearer the future becomes
– Monarchy = historical wisdom, beyond party politics, national loyalty
– House of Lords
[II] Sense of belonging
- Know who we are
- Social cohesiveness
- Security in uncertain world
- Red letter boxes / phone boxes, Last Night of the Proms, the English Landscape, Covent Garden - provide a sense of who we are
- LINK TO: organic society
- Gradualism, change slowly overtime
- Not artifically created
- Evolution, not revolution
- Burke - rev French Rev
- Monarchy
– Churchill = “the further you look back at the past the clearer you see the future” - MENTION: empiricism
2) Property
Links to continuity and tradition:
- Rather than being acquired by individuals for individuals, something to be inherited from one generation to another
- Stability
– Burke: “‘A partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born”
– Cons considering scrapping inheritance tax
– Roger Scruton = “man’s absolute need of private property”
– Hegel = property involves the embodiment of my will in an object
– Artisans and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvements Act
Maintaining society:
- Practical maintenance of property - metaphor for maintaining society
- Must change to conserve - change must be gradual
- Paternalism - those with property have a ‘stake’ in existing society & should help those without property
- Post-war period - subsidies for private housing
– George Osborne’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme - help people get on property ladder
‘Property-owning democracy:
- New-right supporters look to extend property ownership throughout society
– Rand & Nozick = those with prop more able to protect themselves against govt infringements on their liberty
– U.S Constitution = no quartering of soldiers:
“No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law” – 3rd amendment
– “Share owning democracy” - Thatcher (by end of her premiership in 1990, 9m shareholders - more than trade unionists
– Thatcherism = ‘right to buy’ - gave 5m council house tenants right to buy their house from the local authority
- LINK TO: hierarchy
- Passing property - generational wealth
- Society where individuals are ranked according to their fixed status or authority which is unconnected to their ability
- Stems from the notion that the imperfections of humanity lead seamlessly to inequalities within human nature
– Burke = these imperfections lead to an unequal society where “the wiser, stronger and more opulent” establish a hierarchy of power and privilege - Hierarchy natural - ‘little platoons’ have some form of hierarchy - MENTION: localism
3) Judaeo-Christian morality
[I] Original sin
= Drawing upon the biblical principle of original sin, Burke highlighted the ‘chasm between our desire and our achievement’ and thus stressed custom, habit and experience as indicators as to how we should behave
- ‘Philosophy of imperfection’
- They deny any possibility of a perfect, utopian society comprising of rational individuals, like the ideas proposed by Liberals
- Their view of humanity is pessimistic
- They argue that they view humanity as it is rather than as it could or should be
– Oakeshott = human nature was “fragile and fallible”, yet it was also “benign and benevolent”,”fallible but not terrible”, “imperfect but not immoral”
– Oakeshott = “not so much nasty, brutish and short…as noisy, foolish and flawed”
– Hobbes = Human life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”
[II] Family + marriage
- Marriage + nuclear families
– 80% of American conservatives believe marriage is needed to create strong families
– 58% say society is better off if people make marriage and children a priority
– Thatcher (1988) - family = “a nursery, a school, a hospital, a leisure place, a place of refuge and a place of rest” and “the building block of society”
– The Children Act 1989 = outlined rights of children
– The Child Support Agency (1993) = established to ensure absent fathers paid maintenance for the upbringing of their children
– Married Couples Allowance = transfer some of personal allowance to encourage marriage over co-habitation
– John Major urged a “back to basics” approach - promoted traditional family values
Explain views on the state in traditional Conservatism
1) Order and Authority
- Views the state as holding a disciplinary function (advocated by Sir Robert Peel)
- The aim = provide order, security and authority
– Instead Hobbes emphasises the feasibility that individual rights are entirely dependent upon law and order
- This law and order can only be provided by the state
- Human nature - state of nature, dystopianism, original sin
2) Elitism
- Much more comfortable (than liberals and socialists) with a state that is overtly hierarchical
- By flexible means, the conservative state would avert social upheaval and revolution while maintaining traditional patterns of wealth and power in society
–> Organic origins
- Cons sceptical about states that arise momentously, from a formal ‘rational’ discussion
- Such states, conservatives argue, are likely to be normative, not empirical, based on ideals rather than reality, and therefore likely to fail
- Instead, conservatives prefer a state that emerges gradually, unpredictably and without commotion (organic State)
- Oraganic society, hierarchy, tradition, gradualism
3) Gradualism
– Whilst Hobbes is committed to ‘government by consent’, conservatives are sceptical about states that arise momentously, from a formal rational discussion
- Conservatives prefer a state that emerges gradually, unpredictably and without fanfare
- This is an organic and pragmatic response to humanity’s needs
4) Empirical
- Cons reject Hobbes view of social contract theory and states created through this theory
-They argue the creation of such a state under social contract theory conditions will be based on normative ideals rather than reality
- They believe this normative formation of the state will likely fail
- Instead, conservatives argue a state should be formed on empirical values
- Conservatives will deal with society’s issues in a practical, evidential, ‘this is how it is’ fashion, with no clear view of how society might evolve
5) The Nation-state
- The nation became a mega-community, one that enfolded all classes and therefore provided a ‘natural’ basis for the state
- For continental conservatives (Germany or Italy), there remains a powerful sense that the nation preceded the state, that the two are distinct, and that the latter is distinguishable from the former
- For patriot conservatives (UK and USA), however, nation and state are much more intertwined, with the state serving to define much of the nation itself — hence the importance of constitutions, monarchs and presidents as expressions of British and American identity
– Rand = “When the state becomes flabby, it also becomes feeble”
(The aim is to streamline the nation-state’s functions and to make it ‘leaner and fitter’ in the process)
– Oakeshott = “The enterprise is to keep afloat on an even keel; the sea is both friend and enemy”
Explain views on the economy in traditional Conservatism
1) Overview
= Conservatism and capitalism appears compatible due to the fact free-market capitalism tends to nurture and widen economic inequalities and to sharpen the distinction between the rich and poor
- Conservative economics often inherits capitalist qualities off this relationship
2) Capitalisms’ reluctant supporters
- Conservatives recognize that any assault on capitalism is also an assault on property, inequality and hierarchy and the status quo
- All of these are key to the operation of state, society and their views on human nature
- The classical or neo-liberal belief that markets are most effective when left alone by governments (laissez-faire) does not translate into conservative ideology as a key problem with support for Laissez-Faire is it requires a positive view of human nature
- This is inconsistent with conservative scepticism and pessimism.
3) Protectionism
- Hybrid form of free markets where state intervention is present
- Under this system the society and economy would be insured against the unexpected, radical changes of the markets by state imposed tariffs and duties
– Adam Smith = “But the cruellest of our revenue laws, I will venture to affirm, are mild and gentle, in comparison to some of those which the clamour of our merchants and manufacturers has extorted from the legislature, for the support of their own absurd and oppressive monopolies. Like the laws of Draco, these laws may be said to be all written in blood”
– Keynes = “protectionism is at least plausible, and the forces making for its popularity are nothing to wonder at”
Explain the importance of tradition in Conservatism
Overview
= passing of institutions, customs or beliefs from generation to generation
- Things have and should endure through time - ‘God-given’
- Conservation
- “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” - law of unintended consequences - if you meddle - produce new problems
Justification
[I] Reflects cumulative wisdom of the past
- Burke: “‘A partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born”
- Learn from past generations
- Tested by time
- G.K. Chesterton = “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead”
– “Just as a plant’s new leaves are connected and dependent on the roots, so a society’s present direction stems from its past development” = Oakeshott
– Churchill = the further into the past you look, the clearer the future becomes
– Monarchy = historical wisdom, beyond party politics, national loyalty
– House of Lords
[II] Sense of belonging
- Know who we are
- Social cohesiveness
- Security in uncertain world
- Red letter boxes / phone boxes, Last Night of the Proms, the English Landscape, Covent Garden - provide a sense of who we are
- Nation-state- patriot cons (UK, USA) - state provides idenitity for nation
Organic society
- Gradualism, change slowly overtime
- Not artifically created
- Evolution, not revolution
- Burke - rej French Rev
- Monarchy
Explain the importance of property in Conservatism
Links to continuity and tradition
- Rather than being acquired by individuals for individuals, something to be inherited from one generation to another
- Stability
– Burke: “‘A partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born”
– Cons considering scrapping inheritance tax
– Roger Scruton = “man’s absolute need of private property”
– Hegel = property involves the embodiment of my will in an object
Maintaining society
- Practical maintenance of property - metaphor for maintaining society
- Must change to conserve - change must be gradual
- Paternalism - those with property have a ‘stake’ in existing society & should help those without property
- Post-war period - subsidies for private housing
– George Osborne’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme - help people get on property ladder
‘Property-owning democracy
- New-right supporters look to extend property ownership throughout society
– Rand & Nozick = those with prop more able to protect themselves against govt infringements on their liberty
– U.S Constitution = no quartering of soldiers:
“No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law” – 3rd amendment
– “Share owning democracy” - Thatcher (by end of her premiership in 1990, 9m shareholders - more than trade unionists
– Thatcherism = ‘right to buy’ - gave 5m council house tenants right to buy their house from the local authority
Explain the importance of localism in Conservatism
Explain the importance of organicism in Conservatism
Overview
- Society not artificially made, but develops organically, gradually & mysteriously
- Form of Cons scepticism compared to rationalism - unrealistic
Tradition
- Society should reflect the past
= passing of institutions, customs or beliefs from generation to generation
- Things have and should endure through time - ‘God-given’
- Conservation
- “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” - law of unintended consequences - if you meddle - produce new problems
- Burke: “‘A partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born”
- For Burke, criticism of French Rev - completely ignored the past - like many revolutions since, it sought to impose a Year Zero upon society
– Year 0 = Khmer Rouge to erase history and reset Cambodian society, removing any vestiges of the past
- Learn from past generations
- Tested by time
Gradual change
– Burke: “a state without the means of change is without the means of its conservation”
– Monarchy - had to change to survive
– House of Lords
alsoempiricism and hierarchy
Explain the importance of hierarchy in Conservatism
Law and order
- Without hierarchy, there would be chaos
- Before state, state of chaos - life “solitary, nasty, poor, brutish and short”
- Hierarchy needed even at most basic level
– Burke = we should “love the little platoon in society to which we belong”
Organic society
- Facilitates an organic society
- Although basis of hierarchy is subject to change, there’s a tendency for society to reach a state of equilibrium
- Historically - shifted feudalism –> capitalism
- Concept of hierarchy remained - changed from the circumstances of our birth towards how successful we are at acquiring wealth and property
- ‘evolution … not revolution’
- Ruling class possessed cumulative wisdom from past generations = “no generation should ever be so rash as to consider itself superior to its predecessors” (Burke)
Paternalism
= approach to running the country in which members of the elite seek to govern in the best interests of the people
- ‘Noblesse oblige’ (people with status have a responsibility to others / privilege comes w responsibility)
- Take care of everyone
– Cameron personally supporting gay marriage
- Notion of a Big Society (help society regenerate itself by giving citizens the means to look after their communities)
- Post-war consensus (1945-79) = paternalism + Keynesian econ –> Butskellism was used (Butler was a prominent one-nation Tory whereas Gaitskell was a social democrat - so similar)
- Election of Margaret Thatcher (1979) - end of paternalism - idea ruling class knew best not keeping with her sense of mission
could talk about economy and capitaist’s reluctant supporters
Explain the importance of empiricism in Conservatism
= knowledge comes from experience
Tradition
- Reflects cumulative wisdom of the past**
– Burke: “‘A partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born”
- Learn from past generations
- Tested by time
- G.K. Chesterton = “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead”
– “Just as a plant’s new leaves are connected and dependent on the roots, so a society’s present direction stems from its past development” = Oakeshott
– Monarchy = historical wisdom, beyond party politics, national loyalty
– House of Lords
Gradualism/pragmatism
– Churchill = “the further you look back at the past the clearer you see the future”
– If it ain’t broke … why fix it? - law of unintended consequences
- For Burke, criticism of French Rev - completely ignored the past - like many revolutions since, it sought to impose a Year Zero upon society
– Year 0 = Khmer Rouge to erase history and reset Cambodian society, removing any vestiges of the past
Organic society
- Reject Liberal view that you can plan society - can’t be artificially created because knowledge stems from experience
Explain the importance of Judaeo-Christian morality in Conservatism
Original sin
= Drawing upon the biblical principle of original sin, Burke highlighted the ‘chasm between our desire and our achievement’ and thus stressed custom, habit and experience as indicators as to how we should behave
- They regard human nature as a ‘philosophy of imperfection’, inspired by Old Testement doctorine of Original Sin.
- They deny any possibility of a perfect, utopian society comprising of rational individuals, like the ideas proposed by Liberals
- Their view of humanity is pessimistic
- They argue that they view humanity as it is rather than as it could or should be
– Oakeshott = human nature was “fragile and fallible”, yet it was also “benign and benevolent”,”fallible but not terrible”, “imperfect but not immoral”
– Oakeshott = “not so much nasty, brutish and short…as noisy, foolish and flawed”
– Hobbes = Human life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”
Family + marriage
- Marriage + nuclear families
– 80% of American conservatives believe marriage is needed to create strong families
– 58% say society is better off if people make marriage and children a priority
– Thatcher (1988) - family = “a nursery, a school, a hospital, a leisure place, a place of refuge and a place of rest” and “the building block of society”
– The Children Act 1989 = outlined rights of children
– The Child Support Agency (1993) = established to ensure absent fathers paid maintenance for the upbringing of their children
– Married Couples Allowance = transfer some of personal allowance to encourage marriage over co-habitation
– John Major urged a “back to basics” approach - promoted traditional family values
Accountable for their own actions
?
Explain views of Political Conservatism
see A3 sheet - political and moral conservatism
