Conservatism mit added Weber

I posted this over at CT a little while ago and thought I'd put it up. Having accidently got all specialised into the history of ideas, I have been trying to create hopefully useful heuristic ideal tpyes for political ideology. Thinking of doing a series. Thoughts?

‘An ongoing and evolving protect to ensure the survival of a mythical construct of the past, that tend to synthesis collective identity and social norms, a social ‘meritocracy’ informed by those norms and a form of national exceptionism’

To unpack –‘An ongoing and evolving project’ – Conservatism cannot stop change, it has to adjust. So in the 50-60s, a certain level of state provision was excepted by certain Conservatives as necessary to stop the atomising influence of economic breakdown. A similar instance to Tory paternalism. For instance the reverse racism argument trotted out over positive discrimination.

‘a mythical construct of the past’ – in true Burke-ian fashion, what survives works, society, however unjust, is structured like that for a reason. The base of this forgotten land to be conserved is of course mythical, actual 18th century Britain, 16th century France or 1840s America were not static, anodyne places, they were not a-historic steady states, brutally corrupted by innovation. The construct is myth, yet dynamic over time as a recently pasted era provides a new template

‘collective identity and social norms’ – Conservatives are fans of collective identity, just one formed by the attitudes they devine from their mythic construct. Thus Children know their place, Wives their Kitchen and Men their role, Blacks their cabin, gays their closet and heretics their exit visas. Collective identity as such provide a counterweight to atomising change. Such identities and norms create a veneer of social peace, unity and stability.

‘a social ‘meritocracy’ informed by such norms’ – contentious I know, but hear me out. In the Conservative weltanschauung, status is earned, but in a differing way to that of Liberal or Socialist schema. Those of good blood deserve their wealth as they are the scions of good successful and respectable families. Hard working Prols who doff caps and practice safe ‘self-help’ can be released from their origins via their surrender to ‘moderate’ society. Good Blacks or Hispanics can rise if they internalise the norms of ‘good’ society and behave.

‘National Exceptionalism’ – A term that comes from a sense of national identity, closing class lines. It can be isolationists or belligerent depending on the context, yet ‘us above others’, be it culturally or ethnically based is paramount.

The matter was then raised about Gemeinschaft and Gesellshaft (A society united by shared norms and one without)

Conservatism is indeed the protection of a mythical gemienschaft via evolving means, gesellschaft equals immorality, dearth of meaning, corruption, reason unbound etc.

Conservatism likes to think of itself as an anti-ideology, as reactive. It clearly is not. It actively seeks to protect and indeed recreate the virtuous past, both fostering elements in society that nourish its vision (the family, the self-made) whilst coercing those who’s very identity (ambiently created) threaten same vision.

Indeed, consider the first patron state of statist government, FeldMarshall Hindenburg. Oversaw the most rapid expansion of state powers in European History till that time for basically classic conservative aims. Wilson and Lenin being huge fans.

Consider the regimes of Franco and Salazar, both created a huge state system based on the continued preservation of a mythical Spain and Portugal. This was a pro-active attempt to both nurture ‘healthy’ ambient life and weed out the ‘dangerous’ variety (And I submit to the view both were authoritarians governments rather than fascist, more similar in spirit to Vargas or Carol II than Mussolini)

Even the continuing consensus over large state subsidies for the military-Industrial complex was to conservative minds, a strut against instability both domestically with regards to social conditions and aboard with the contest with the Soviet Union.

Conservatism is an ideology, it just wishes it didn’t have to be