Conservatism

Williams, B 2019, 'Conservatism' , in: Social Work and Society: Political and Ideological Perspectives , Policy Press, UK, pp. 34-50.

	PDF - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (313kB) | Request a copy
	Microsoft Word - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (57kB) | Request a copy

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.

Item Type:	Book Section
Editors:	Pollock, S, Parkinson, KP and Cummins, ID
Schools:	Schools > School of Arts & Media > Arts, Media and Communication Research Centre
Publisher:	Policy Press
ISBN:	9781447344704
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Ben Williams
Date Deposited:	01 Dec 2021 16:10
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2022 17:02
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/62453

Actions (login required)

Edit record (repository staff only)