Conservatism: Core Ideas

This lesson examines the core ideas and principles of conservatism — one of the three core ideologies in the Edexcel A-Level Politics specification. Conservatism is distinctive in its preference for pragmatism, tradition, and incremental change over radical reform.

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The Origins of Conservatism

Conservatism emerged as a reaction against the radical ideas of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution (1789). While liberals and socialists embraced reason, progress, and equality, conservatives warned that rapid, radical change could destroy the social fabric.

The founding text is Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), in which Burke argued that rebuilding society from scratch was reckless and doomed to produce tyranny.

Burke: "A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation."

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Core Principles of Conservatism

1. Tradition

Conservatives value tradition — the accumulated wisdom of the past, embodied in institutions, customs, and practices that have stood the test of time.

• Collective wisdom. Institutions that have survived centuries represent accumulated experience of many generations.
• Social continuity. Tradition provides identity, belonging, and stability.
• Pragmatic evidence. What has worked for a long time is more reliable than untested theories.

Burke: Tradition is the "democracy of the dead" — giving a voice to past generations.

Conservatives do NOT oppose all change. They accept gradual reform to preserve what is valuable ("change in order to conserve"). They oppose radical, revolutionary change.

2. Pragmatism

Conservatives prefer practical experience over abstract ideology.

• Scepticism of ideology. Grand theories claiming to provide a blueprint for the perfect society are dangerous.
• "What works" over "what should work."
• Flexibility. Willingness to adapt policies to circumstances.

Michael Oakeshott: "To be conservative is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible."

3. Human Imperfection

Conservatives have a pessimistic view of human nature:

• Morally imperfect — capable of selfishness and cruelty (rooted in the Christian doctrine of original sin).
• Intellectually limited — no one has sufficient knowledge to redesign society from scratch.
• Dependent on social institutions — individuals need the family, religion, and law to restrain their worst instincts.

Implications:

• Law and order are essential.
• Utopian projects are dangerous.
• Authority is necessary.

4. Organic Society

Conservatives believe in the organic society — society is a living organism of interconnected parts, not a collection of isolated individuals.

• Society is more than the sum of its parts. Individuals are shaped by communities, families, and institutions.
• Institutions have evolved naturally to serve essential functions.
• Interdependence. Different social groups are mutually dependent.

Burke compared society to a partnership between generations: "Society is 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."

5. Hierarchy and Authority