Conservatism

Williams, B

Abstract

When focusing on the subject matter of ideology, Conservatism is generally viewed to be one of the older and most-established types, along with liberalism and socialism. However, on a very fundamental level, there has been some significant academic debate and disagreement as to whether Conservatism constitutes an actual ideology or not. This is because unlike other core ideologies, many of its leading figures and advocates over the years have rejected the influence of ‘abstract’ theories and idealistic principles, and have instead sought to base their political arguments on experiences and aspects of everyday life (often referred to as ‘empiricism’). Within this more empirical context therefore, for most of its modern history since the early 19th century, the UK Conservative Party has largely rejected explicit ideological principles, and instead been influenced by often vague concepts such as tradition, instinct and pragmatism as its main guiding objectives when developing and making key policies.

• Publication Date: Nov 27, 2019
• Deposit Date: Dec 1, 2021
• Publisher: Policy Press
• Pages: 34-50
• Book Title: Social Work and Society: Political and Ideological Perspectives
• ISBN: 9781447344704
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/social-work-and-society/conservatism/C984D6DC83AA0F5367EBF93B9513A8A0