science

Social conservatism

Social conservatism is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Social conservatism rather than just read about it. In short: Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism that places emphasis on conserving the traditional moral values of society, frequently sourced from a religion. It also aims to preserve traditional social structures over social pluralism.

Key takeaways

Social conservatism belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Social conservatism to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Social conservatism from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism that places emphasis on conserving the traditional moral values of society, frequently sourced from a religion. It also aims to preserve traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values, and social institutions, such as traditional family structures, gender roles, sexual relations, national patriotism, and religious traditions. Social conservatism is usually skeptical of social change, instead tending to support the status quo concerning social issues. Social conservatives also value the rights of religious institutions to participate in the public sphere, thus often supporting government-religious endorsement and opposing state atheism, and in some cases opposing secularism. Social conservatism, as a movement, is largely an outgrowth of traditionalist conservatism. The key difference is that traditional conservatism is broader and includes philosophical considerations, whereas social conservatism is largely focused on just moralism.

Social conservatism and other ideological views There is overlap between social conservatism and paleoconservatism, in that they both support and value traditional social forms. Social conservatism is not to be confused with economically interventionist conservatism, where conservative ideas are combined with Keynesian economics and a welfare state as practised by some European conservatives (e.g. one-nation conservatives in the United Kingdom, Gaullists in France). Some social conservatives support free trade and laissez faire market approaches to economic and fiscal issues, but social conservatives may also support economic intervention where the intervention serves moral or cultural aims. Historian Jon Wiener has described social conservatism as historically the result of an appeal from "elitist preservationists" to lower-class workers to 'protect' wealth from immigration. Many social conservatives support a balance between protectionism and a 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.

Social conservatism by country

Australia

Mainstream conservatism in Australia generally incorporates liberalism, hence liberal conservatism being the primary ideology of the major centre-right coalition in Australia, the Liberal-National Coalition. Therefore, the Coalition, while having members with some socially conservative views, is not considered socially conservative. However, both social conservatism and right-wing populism are present among right-wing minor parties, such as Pauline Hanson's One Nation, the United Australia Party (UAP) and Katter's Australian Party (KAP) amongst others. Nevertheless, the National Right (also known as the "Conservative" faction or the "Right" faction) serves as the party's social conservative faction, although the party is still considered a broad church conservative party and factions do collaborate with each other; for example, the New South Wales Liberal Party often chooses a leadership team consisting of both a member of the more centrist Moderate faction and a member of the Right. Social conservatives in Australia often need to take a broad church stance while governing. For example, former New South Wales Liberal Party leader and state premier, Dominic Perrottet, a conservative Catholic, despite having voted against legalising same-sex marriage in 2018 and opposing abortion, followed Labor leader Chris Minns' in supporting a 2023 state-wide ban on gay conversion therapy, whilst also vowing to protect religious freedom and preaching. During the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey of 2018, which successfully sought to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia, the Coalition government led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull allowed its members a conscience vote on the issue. While many (including Turnbull) were in favour, some were opposed, but supported holding a plebiscite on the matter. Federal Coalition MPs who opposed same-sex marriage during the debate included former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison and many others. However, when the plebiscite was successful (with 61.6% in favour), a vote needed to be held in both chambers of Parliament. The Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 was tabled in the Senate and was subsequently passed in the House of Representatives, with just three votes against (excluding the members who abstained). Due to their respective electorates delivering a majority "yes" vote (as well as the entire country), members such as Dutton (who voted "no" in the plebiscite) voted in favour of the bill after his seat of Dickson voted 65.16% in favour.

Canada

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Social conservatism

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Social conservatism claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Social conservatism before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Social conservatism ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Social conservatism

In research: Social conservatism appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Social conservatism in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Social conservatism is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Conservatism, Political science terminology, Social conservatism, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Social conservatism outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Social conservatism in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Social conservatism means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Social conservatism out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Social conservatism in simple terms?

Why does Social conservatism matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Social conservatism?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Social conservatism.