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Different Strands within Conservatism - Coggle Diagram
Different Strands within Conservatism
New Right
Neo-liberalism
Atomistic individualism:
noblesse oblige as justification for state intervention is not justfied
Nozick & Rand: indiviualusa should have obligations to themselves not the state
Nozick: as the state ask individuals to pay tax and fight their battles they create less freedom and not more
Nozick: Miniaturist gov of 18th century should be brought back - primary function being to enforce contracts and protect human life
Rand: atomistic indivualism (individual is the important component in soc not state and they have rational and self-interested thinking) - only through this will people be free
Rand: the traditions loved by trad and 1n are nonsense - only through scientific fact is the truth found
Free market economics:
State role is limited to controlling inflation via "monetarism" - emphasises need of govs to show restraint over the supply of money
Individuals should succeed or fail on their own ability - no state intervention to curb this
Neo-conservatism
Characterised by:
maintaining organic soc from social fragmentation
they reject atomistic individualism as it undermines core con value e.g paternalism
believe like trad cons that old institutions are vital to an organic soc
welfare reforms after WW2 created a dependancy culture, need to be rolled back
Share trad con view of hn - anti-poverty programme fail because humans are not naturally moral or hard-working
support welfare state for those who genuinely need it but not so it erodes individual responsibility e.g thatcher's right to buy was way of reinventing welfare
uphold public morality and authoritarian law and order
Critical of Rand's atomistic individualism as it leads to a rejection of communal customs and values
Atomistic individualism has led to a materialistic moral vacuum which ignores morality of Christian soc
Religion creates responsibility to others
Cap is the natural economic condition
Traditional
Reactionary ( it was people reacting and trying to stop this planned change that was occurring. It is specifically reacting to liberalism)
Hobbes
believes in feudal hierarchical soc
Challenged by French revo and changing dynamics of state and soc caused by industrial revolution
Not capable of adapting or chnaging
Non-reactionary
Burke
Burke: conservatism must counter Enlightenment ideas as they had led to delusions e.g French revo
Principles such as hierarchy, tradition and authority must be defended to maintain societal equilibrium - Burke "change to conserve"
Capable of adapting, but Burke said only after very careful consideration of both sides of the argument - change to stop unrest e.g founding of metropolitan police 1829 (long-standing tradition of unpaid constables was not working)
this strand seen throughout cons 19th century
Natural disposition
Oakeshott
Conservatism is a natural disposition as well as a political ideology
preferred traditional institutions that have should the test of time and adapting those
we must trust in empirical informed pragmatism to govern
Burke argued "change to conserve" however, Oakeshott argued we should embrace experience - "prefer the familiar to the untried" - too risky
One-nation
Early 1n
trad con policy had always been laissez-faire within economy AND society, but industrial revo caused social inequality - cons scared of socialism rising
Disraeli drew from Burke and noblesse oblige (high class is obliged to look after the wc - hard and soft paternalism)
Disraeli admired tradition and institutions that embodied this in particular CoE
Disraeli: to reduce and address tensions between the classes we must renew a sense of identity and community
Disraeli agreed with Burke and was anti-ideology
Early 1n reform: representation of the people act 1867 gave the vote to parts of the male wc
Disraeli envisaged limited state intervention
Late 1n
from 1945- present - associated with Macmillan & Cameron
Macmillian - conservatism that mixed trad laissez-faire con and collectivism (collective human efforts is greater value to economy and moral value to society than individual efforts) of socialism - more state intervention
Macmillian rejected empiricism in favour of rational ideas of Keynes - attempted to manage the economy that no con gov had done before
macmillan abandons tradition via Life Peerage Act 1958 - created life peers (including women)
Oakeshott disapproved as state management is rationally informed and ignores limits of human reason
Cameron supported legislation that allowed gay marriage 2013