Social conservatism

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Social conservatism is a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism[1] often associated with the position that the national government, or the state, should have a greater role in the social and moral affairs of its citizens, generally supporting whatever it sees as morally correct choices and discouraging or outright forbidding those it considers morally wrong ones.[2] In the United States during the mid to late 20th century, the notion of preserving traditional values was seen by many social conservatives as an ideal that had been gradually eroded by a number of federal legislative passages and US Supreme Court decisions, the result of which led to a shift in mainstream social conservatism that involved an increase in grassroots activism and lobbying efforts in an attempt to preserve traditional values at the federal level. This ideology typically saw social change as suspicious, and believed in returning what were referred to as fundamental values. A second meaning of the term social conservatism developed in the Nordic countries and continental Europe. There it refers to liberal conservatives supporting modern European welfare states. Social conservatism is distinct from cultural conservatism which focuses on cultural aspects of the issues, such as protecting one's culture, although there are some overlaps.

The accepted goals and ideologies related to preserving traditions and/or morality often differs from group to group within social conservatism. Thus, there are really no policies or positions that could be considered universal among social conservatives. There are, however, a number of principles to which at least a majority of social conservatives adhere. The general ideas and philosophies social conservatives support are the nuclear family model as society's foundational unit, public morality and what they call traditional family values, and they oppose secularism and militant atheism. As an application of these general principles, social conservatives in many countries generally: favor the pro-life position in opposing abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and euthanasia; oppose both eugenics (inheritable genetic modification) and human enhancement (transhumanism) while supporting bioconservatism;[3] support defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, thus opposing same-sex marriage; support the continued prohibition of recreational or medically non-beneficial drugs; oppose prostitution, premarital sex, and non-marital sex; and object to pornography and what they consider to be obscenity or indecency.

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[edit] Social conservatism and other ideological views

There is no necessary link between social and fiscal conservatism; some social conservatives such as Mike Huckabee,[4] George W. Bush,[5] and Michael Gerson[6] are otherwise apolitical, centrist or left-wing on economic and fiscal issues. Social conservatives may sometimes support economic intervention where the intervention serves moral or cultural aims. Many Social Conservatives support a balance of fair trade with a true free market . This concern for material welfare, like advocacy of traditional mores, will often have a basis in religion. Examples include the Christian Social Union of Bavaria, the Family First Party and Katter's Australian Party, and the communitarian movement in the United States.

There is more overlap between social conservatism and paleoconservatism, in that they both have respect for traditional social forms. However, paleoconservatism bears a closer resemblance to New Deal Democrats in domestic policies and is isolationist in foreign policy.

[edit] Social conservatism in different countries

[edit] Canada

Main article: Social conservatism in Canada

In Canada, social conservatism is a political attitude that is widespread, though not as pronounced as in the United States. It represents conservative positions on issues of family, sexuality and morality. In the European and North American context believe in natural law, and traditional family values and policies.

Compared to the situation in the United States, social conservatism has not been as influential in Canada. The main reason is that Right-wing, neoliberal politics as promoted by leaders such as Paul Martin and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have not been linked to moral or social conservatism.[7] That is, there is no large political party behind it, and social conservatives have divided their votes.[8]

In modern Canadian politics, social conservatives often felt that they were being sidelined by officials in the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Many of them felt shunned by a party that was largely led and run by Red Tories for the last half of the twentieth century. Many eventually made their political home with the Reform Party of Canada and its forerunner the Social Credit Party of Canada. Despite Reform leader Preston Manning's attempts to broaden the support of the Reform movement through populism, the party was dominated by social conservatives. Manning's reluctance to allow his party to wholly embrace socially conservative values contributed to his deposition as leader of the new Canadian Alliance in favour of Stockwell Day.[9]

[edit] United States

Main article: Social conservatism in the United States

Social conservatism is generally focused on the preservation of family values, primarily within the family but also with respect to society as a whole. Today's mainstream social conservatives, in contrast to "small-government" conservatives and "states-rights" advocates, have increasingly appealed[citation needed] to federal legislators and Presidential candidates with the notion that the federal government should bear the responsibility to overrule the states in order to preserve their stated ideal of traditional values; this is not to take away from the fact that a significant portion of "small-government" and "states-rights" conservatives also share many of the ideals of mainstream social conservatives. The exception in how these conservative groups differ tends to be with respect to the role of the federal government versus the role of local government, where the "states-rights" conservatives tend to advocate for social reform and/or preservation of traditional values at the state and local levels.

Social conservatives emphasize traditional views of social units such as the family, church, or locale. Social conservatives would typically define family in terms of local histories and tastes. Social conservatism may entail support for defining marriage as between a man and a woman (thereby banning gay marriage) and laws placing restrictions on abortion.

The Republican Party (United States) is the largest political party with some socially conservative ideals incorporated into its platform.

Social conservatives are strongest in the South, where they are arguably considered a mainstream political force on a national level. In recent years, the supporters of social conservatism played a major role in the political coalitions of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Sarah Palin.[10]

[edit] List of social conservative political parties

[edit] Australia

[edit] Austria

[edit] Bangladesh

[edit] Belgium

[edit] Brazil

[edit] Croatia

[edit] Canada

[edit] Chile

[edit] Czech Republic

[edit] Denmark

[edit] Finland

[edit] France

and, including far right and nationalist ideas

[edit] Germany

[edit] Greece

[edit] Hungary

[edit] India

[edit] Iran

[edit] Ireland

[edit] Israel

[edit] Italy

and, with nationalist and separatist ideas

[edit] Japan

[edit] Netherlands

[edit] New Zealand

[edit] Nigeria

[edit] Norway

[edit] Philippines

[edit] Poland

[edit] Russia

[edit] Slovakia

[edit] Spain

[edit] Serbia

[edit] Sweden

[edit] Switzerland

[edit] Turkey

[edit] United Kingdom

[edit] United States

[edit] Social conservative factions of political parties

[edit] See also

Portal icon conservatism portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stenner, Karen (2005). The authoritarian dynamic. Cambridge University Press. pp. 86. 
  2. ^ Zafirovski, Milan (2008). Modern Free Society and Its Nemesis: Democracy, economy, and conservatism. Lexington Books. pp. 27. 
  3. ^ The Next Digital Divide (utne article)
  4. ^ "John Fund On Mike Huckabee's Liberal Record". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNfOiseKnoA. Retrieved 2011-03-30. 
  5. ^ ""Conservative" Bush Spends More than "Liberal" Presidents Clinton, Carter | Veronique de Rugy and Tad DeHaven | Cato Institute: Daily Commentary". Cato.org. 2003-07-31. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3184. Retrieved 2011-03-30. 
  6. ^ "Michael Gerson - Compassionate to the End". washingtonpost.com. 2008-01-30. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012902212.html. Retrieved 2011-03-30. 
  7. ^ John Middlemist Herrick and Paul H. Stuart, eds. Encyclopedia of social welfare history in North America (2005) p. 143
  8. ^ David M. Haskell, Through a lens darkly: how the news media perceive and portray evangelicals (2009) p 57
  9. ^ Murray Dobbin, Preston Manning and the Reform Party (1991)
  10. ^ Darren Dochuk, From Bible Belt to Sun Belt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism (W.W. Norton & Company; 2010) shows how migrants to Southern California from Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas provided evangelical support for social conservatism.
  11. ^ DAN BILEFSKY (April 13, 2010). "Hungarian Winner Vows Battle Against the Far Right". http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/world/europe/13iht-hungary.html. Retrieved October 12, 2011. 
  12. ^ Jörg Flecker. Changing working life and the appeal of the extreme right. ISBN 978-0-7546-4915-1. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fAKtzAXI-sQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=%22Hungarian+Justice+and+Life+Party%22#v=onepage&q=%22Hungarian%20Justice%20and%20Life%20Party%22&f=false. 

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