Do you agree with Scruton (1990) that the main aim of Conservatism is preservation of a pre existing social order?

Whilst the preservation of a pre existing social order does carry importance to Conservatism, it would be more appropriate to see stability as a Conservatives fundamental aim. Scruton misplaces his argument by mistaking the desire within Conservatives for stability as a desire to avoid change, however a distinction can and should be made between the two. It is not impossible for stability to be achieved through a process of constant and gradual change, so Conservatism should not be tied too closely to the idea that it is bound to upholding a specific social order, as Goldwater (1960, p.12) argues “The true Conservative was sympathetic with the plight of the hapless peasant under the tyranny of the French monarchy”. Change is allowed when ordered, as Burke (1790, p.59) argues "a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.". Conservatism should not be seen as opposed to change as Scruton's argument suggests, but rather against the idea that there is a utopia which change can help us move towards. As O’Sullivan (1976 p. 11/12) states, Conservatism is “committed to… the defence of a limited style of politics”. As such, according to Conservatism changes should be an good end in themselves, rather than a means or ladder to a greater utopian vision.

Although Conservative governments often differ in their practical approaches, by analysing how they act in certain situations gives an indication as to what the essence of Conservatism is. Whilst the critic may level at this approach that Conservative governments don’t necessarily fully reflect the essence of Conservatism, it is only through analysing Conservatives in action that we can truly know what they stand for due to the fact that there is no central and binding text or doctrine to Conservatism. We only have to look as far as today’s current Conservative led government to see that Conservatism is about more than preserving a pre existing social order.The rises in tuition fees and cuts in the public sector seem to show a clear break from the social order of the past twenty years, however, with closer analysis of such policies it is inevitable that they have deeper underlying purposes which help us to understand Conservatism. Whilst rises in tuition fees could be seen as revolutionary, it would be more accurate to see them, in a social sense, as being an attempt to narrow social mobility. Similarly whilst public sector cuts could be seen as a break from previous governments of the last 20 years, they are more appropriately seen as an attempted return to Thatcherist principles. This shouldn’t be seen as a modern phenomenon either, in 1943 the creation of a Tory Reform Committee represents from its name alone that Conservatives are committed to reform and not just as Scruton argues focused on preserving pre existing social order.

The argument should be made when analysing Conservatism that it only acts to preserve pre existing social orders when those social orders are deemed to be in line with other Conservative values. In Western societies this is why conservatism is concerned with maintaining the status quo, that is because Western societies are societies in which, theoretically at least, individuals are free beings.  It is only because these societies are to an extent ordered, that conservatism is seen to attempt to preserve the existing social order, on an international scale one would be hard pressed to argue that conservative thinkers would accept societies that don’t promote conservative values of freedom, as Goldwater (1960, p.12) states the modern conservative  “is at odds with dictators who rule by terror”. This shows that Conservatism only aims to uphold those pre existing social orders which are deemed to be good. As Kekes (1998, p.26) argues the aim of Conservatism is to ‘safeguard the system of arrangements that maintain and protect all the political conditions of good lives’.

Bibliography

Burke. E, Reflections on the Revolution in France, in The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, vol. 2 (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1864)

Eccleshall. R, Political Ideologies: An Introduction (Routledge, 2003)

Goldwater. B, The Conscience of a Conservative (Shepherdsville, Kentucky: Victor Publishing Company, 1960)

Goodwin. B, Using Political Ideas: Third Edition (John Wiley & Sons, 1992)

Kekes. J, A Case for Conservatism (Cornell University Press, 1998)

Scruton. R, A Political Philosophy (Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., 2006)

O'Sullivan. N, Conservatism (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1976)