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Conservatism is one of the most influential political philosophies and ideologies of the post Enlightenment era and has been considered as the weapon with which several social doctrines have been safeguarded by society. Therefore, conservatism can be defined as the perspective dealing with the aesthetic, cultural, social, and political outlook aiming at the conservatory desire to preserve the existing system whether they are traditional, religious, social, cultural or political in order to conserve the historical development of the systems along with the civilization which developed it. The conservation of the system is based on the understanding that they are good in themselves in the sense that they are considered to be upholding the cultural development of the society and is better than the alternatives present. However, the objection which has been found in the modernised version or interpretation is that most of the systems conserved are done on the basis of their familiarity and awareness rather than their impact and their implication which is often misplaced as an object of trust and affection.

Conservatives

Conservatives criticize their rivals for making a utopian exaggeration of the power of theoretical reason, and of human perfectibility. Conservative prescriptions are based on what they regard as an experience rather than reason; for them, the ideal and the practical are inseparable. Conservatives in general are considered to be an adverse group of people who does not accept any form of change in society especially when the change threatens to bring about change in the working of the society. “Conservative” is a generic term for “right-wing viewpoint occupying the political spectrum between liberalism and fascism”. Philosophical commentators offer a more distinctive characterization. Many treat it as a standpoint that is skeptical of abstract reasoning in politics, and that appeals instead to living tradition, allowing for the possibility of limited political reform. On this view, conservatism is neither a dogmatic reaction nor the right-wing radicalism of Margaret Thatcher or contemporary American “neo-conservatives”.

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Socially Conservative

American social conservatism usually refers to a political ideology that involves traditional, historical views on the definition of marriage, life, sexuality, and religion. This ideology is in direct contrast with another known as social liberalism. Individuals who are socially liberal typically embrace and support marriage equality, abortion rights, and government intervention on issues such as pay between men and women. Voters who are social conservatives often support candidates in the Republican Party, which is known for having traditional views in relation to the definition of marriage, life, sexuality, and religion. According to Gallup's annual measurement of social views, about one-third of Americans identify as socially conservative. American social conservatives are often members of a Christian or Jewish denomination, but not every social conservative is religious.

Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism that places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatism in North America rose in the early 1800s as a reaction to the perceived anti-Christian and anti-constitutional aspects of slavery, as articulated by Abraham Lincoln. They also engaged with the economic insecurity of lower-class Protestant Americans, McCarthyism, and other challenges to social institutions. Social conservatives often promoted the organization and politicization of social issues.

Characteristics of Conservatism

A common way of distinguishing conservatism from both liberalism and radicalism is to say that conservatives reject the optimistic view that human beings can be morally improved through political and social change. Conservatives who are Christian sometimes express this point by saying that human beings are guilty of original sin. Skeptical conservatives merely observe that human history, under almost all imaginable political and social circumstances, has been filled with a great deal of evil. Far from believing that human nature is essentially good or that human beings are fundamentally rational, conservatives tend to assume that human beings are driven by their passions and desires—and are therefore naturally prone to selfishness, anarchy, irrationality, and violence. Accordingly, conservatives look to traditional political and cultural institutions to curb humans’ base and destructive instincts. 

The second characteristic of the conservative temperament, which is closely related to the first, is an aversion to abstract argument and theorizing. Attempts by philosophers and revolutionaries to plan society in advance, using political principles purportedly derived from reason alone, are misguided and likely to end in disaster, conservatives say. In this respect, the conservative temperament contrasts markedly with that of the liberal. Whereas the liberal consciously articulate abstract theories, the conservatives instinctively embrace concrete traditions. For just this reason, many authorities on conservatism have been led to deny that it is a genuine ideology, regarding it instead as a relatively inarticulate state of mind. Whatever the merits of this view, it remains true that the best insights of conservatism seldom have been developed into sustained theoretical works comparable to those of liberalism and radicalism.

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Politically Conservative

The root of conservatism is conservation. The great conservative philosopher Roger Scruton, who died earlier this month, said, “Conservatism starts from a sentiment that all mature people can readily share: the sentiment that good things are easily destroyed, but not easily created.” This sentiment is at the heart of traditional conservatism, but it’s not constrained by ideology or partisanship. Many liberals (and even some socialists) have displayed this temperament. 

Second, with the great divide in conservative theory, there are those who are anti-left and those who are anti-state. For a crude illustration, some people are opposed to public schools because they don’t think education is a proper task for the state. (Milton Friedman called them “government schools.”) Others on the right think public schools are fine; they just object to how progressives operate them, filling kids’ heads with objectionable ideas. 

Conservatism was even more divided in the United States. Abortion. immigration, national sovereignty, “family values,” and the “war on terror,” both at home and abroad, were among the issues that rallied supporters but divided adherents into various camps, from neoconservatives and “paleoconservatives” (descendants of the Old Right, who regarded neoconservatives as socially liberal and imperialistic in foreign affairs) to cultural traditionalists among “religious right” groups such as the Christian Coalition and Focus on the Family. The camps battled one another as well as their perceived enemies in periodic “culture wars” from the 1990s through the first decades of the 21st century.

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