In recent years, there has been a rise is so-called social conservatism. The media in particular had picked up on many high profile social conservatives, with many of them creating a lot of controversy.
This got me thinking, what exactly is social conservatism? And how exactly does it differ from other types of conservatism? And why do so many people hate them?
What is Social Conservatism?
Social conservatism a variant of conservatism that mostly focuses on the aspects of day-to-day life, mostly from a conservative viewpoint. Most commonly, this is to do with aspects such as social purism and traditional social hierarchy.
Whilst many social conservatives may also have conservative views on the economy, social conservatism has nothing to do with it.
Instead, social conservatism is a “commitment” to making your life, and those people around you, much better. To do this, social conservatives often attempt to influence legislation pertaining to everyday life.
Put simply, social conservatism is a strand of conservatism that aims to bring traditional family values and the chaotic 21st century world together. Even if that does mean repealing socially progressive laws in the short term.
How do Their Views Differ?
As said before, social conservatives are a subsect of conservatism. As such, their views on certain things will differ. These things include…
Emphasis on Religion
For the most part, social conservatives are rooted in tradition. Whilst there is a growing subsect of so-called atheist conservatives, the vast majority are still quite religious, especially in the Southern United States.
Many social conservatives have many of their other beliefs rooted in religion, usually Christianity (Protestantism, but occasionally other sects like Catholicism). This is where many people seem to have an issue with them.
Depending on the person, their views range from believing that everyone should go to church, to all schools being forced to teach about God, to all businesses being forced to close on a Sunday for the Sabbath.
However, for the most part, social conservatives just believe that everyone should life their life according to God. And this can be any God, be it the various Hindu gods, Allah, Yahweh or any other god(s).
For the most part, this is to do with morals. Religion, through its various sacred texts sets the benchmark for what is morally and ethically correct for humanity. Without them, who knows what could happen…
Others also believe in this for the sense of community religion often brings. You could have one of the richest men in the world, and one of the poorest, and they’d still be able to come together due to their faith!
Anti-Abortion
Due in part to their strong views on religion, with most social conservatives being extremely religious, they also have anti-abortion views. The rise of pro-choice conservatives has also torn social conservatives as well.
For the most part, many social conservatives, including many women, have strong views on abortion. For some, it is akin to murder, whilst others worry about the potential that child could have, had they been born.
Almost all social conservatives are primarily worried about the potential to abuse abortion. If laws are too lax, people may use it too much, straining the system for those who medically need it.
And that’s the bit that people often forget. Most social conservatives understand that if both the child and the mother will die, an abortion should be carried out. After all, two deaths are worse than one… even if that is a bit cynical.
Regardless of their reasons, they vehemently oppose any lifting of conservative abortion laws. When a new abortion-related law is passed or is being debated, they are often the ones marching that it should not be passed.
On top of their anti-abortion views, many social conservatives hold anti-LGBT rights viewpoints. Some do this because it is against the Bible- eg. against the word of God, whilst others do it because they can’t procreate.
Gun Rights
Social conservatives are strong believers in the Second Amendment in the US. For them, they believe that the government shouldn’t intervene in day-to-day life, unless you are breaking the law in some way.
As such, many of them are firm believers that as the Constitution says you can bear arms, you can do so as you please. As long as you aren’t using them illegally of course.
Depending on the person, they may have stronger or weaker opinions on this. For some, it is merely that the Constitution says you can bear arms, so it is your right to do so if you please.
On the other end of the spectrum, some believe that it is your absolute right to bear arms. Even if that includes three rocket launchers, six Gatling guns, twenty-five assault rifles, eight shotguns and ten pistols.
Naturally, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.
For some, this also extends to things like universal background checks. Some believe that you should have one, only to prevent dangerous criminals from obtaining one, whilst others believe they violate the Second Amendment.
Many others extend this to hunting as well. Many of them believe that it is not the government’s place to tell them whether they can or can’t hunt animals. Instead, it should be up to the land owner, or the hunter themselves.
Anti-Drugs
For many social liberals, and some conservatives, drug use shouldn’t be a crime. Instead, it is a public health concern and is a cry for help from users, or is a way to vent out stress, rather than harming people or property.
However, social conservatives would vehemently disagree with that. In its place, some would say that it is a sign of moral failing. Everyone else can deal with the stresses of life, and so should users.
Others, would talk about the damage that drug addiction can do. Whilst many users may take drugs in order to relax, often due to high stress work environments, and in order to not physically hurt people, they hurt them in another way.
In the place of physical violence, drug addicts may in turn damage expensive personal belongings whilst they’re high. By the same token, they may accidentally hurt the ones they care about most.
The largest reason social conservatives oppose drugs is the increase in crime that accompanies a drug addiction. Addicts will do anything for their next fix, and when they don’t have the financial resources to fund it, they often turn to crime.
During the 1980’s, when social conservatism was at its height, these worries led to the sale and possession of drugs becoming illegal. This inadvertently led to the War on Drugs which is still going on to this day (sort of).
Opposition to Gambling
For many of the same reasons as drugs, social conservatives are overwhelmingly against gambling as well. This has seen many conservative states outlaw gambling, this includes online gambling too.
Many social conservatives are against gambling because many of them have seen, or can see, the damage a gambling addiction can do. It’s not the physical act they have an issue with, but the addiction that often comes with it.
And it’s this addiction that they are opposed to. This addiction can destroy families, whether physically, emotionally and/or financially.
Several social conservatives have seen firsthand what a gambling addiction can do to good people- it can ruin their entire life! Often, they become distant and refuse to go to work, all in order to feed their addiction.
Many social conservatives have seen that government attempts to regulate the industry are always flawed somehow. This sees gambling addicts continue to feed their addiction.
They have also found government attempts to “help” gambling addicts to be as ineffective as their regulations. Often, after being “helped” many of these addicts relapse.
So, the best way to prevent them from getting addicted is for them never to start in the first place!
Different Variants
Despite social conservatism being its own subsect of conservatism, holding on to many conservative principles, whilst disregarding others, there are several different variants of it.
Thankfully, these are mostly geographical, having developed separately away from the “main” strand of social conservatism.
North America
For the vast majority of this article, I have looked at social conservatism in the US. However, both Mexico and Canada have sizable social conservative populations, both in the countryside and in the large cities.
Originally, the US and Mexico’s social conservatism developed somewhat in sync. Despite the US and Mexico being enemies, Hispanic beliefs on family heavily influenced Southern pastors.
Over time, these pastors have migrated their ideas northwards. This has combined the British and French ideals of social conservatism and the US-Hispanic ideals into one powerful combination.
Although it has been influenced by its southern neighbors in recent years, Canadian social conservatism is mostly a blend of French and British socially conservative ideologies.
Both ideologies arrived separately, but, due to the intermingling of the French and English-speaking Canadians, their ideologies have merged.
Today, North American social conservatives are form the most part about the community, but also the individual (within the community itself). They are also about religion and family too.
Europe
In recent years, European social conservatism had gotten a bit of a bad rap. Isolationist views have led to things like Brexit and a growing Eurosceptic sentiment throughout EU-member countries.
Despite this, European social conservatism is distinct in many ways from its cousins in other parts of the world. For the most part, it is rooted in the European nobility, rather than specifically from the Bible.
As with its American cousin, they oppose things like gay marriage, abortion and increased secularization. On top of this, many of them are land owners, and farmer, owning several acres of hunting ground.
Many of them believe that, as long as they have shown no reason to be denied, they should have the right to possess firearms for hunting purposes. However, they believe that someone should be responsible for knowing how many people have firearms.
In the UK especially, social conservatives are either the nobility, or come from wealthy non-noble families. However, many more have grown up in highly religious environments, where they adopted these views.
European social conservatives still believe in the power of religion, however, understand that one day soon, it will come to an end. So many of them aren’t religious, but many are anyway.
Africa
Africa has seen a rather distinct form of social conservatism take hold since the 1990’s. Often, this has ignited outrage across the world, as many have seen this as a form of racism, however, those social conservatives would disagree.
In many former European colonies, especially those who brought white settlers who still remain, things such as Apartheid were introduced. These were put in place in order to keep the whites and natives separate, to avoid violence.
Today, many of these policies have been removed. However, the whites and natives are still segregated, albeit unofficially. Even today, countries like South Africa have white-only towns and villages, even advertising it as such.
Speaking to many of the people there, they identify as social conservatives. They claim (in varying degrees) that they need to be protected, that is, their way of life, something that can’t be done in mixed-race towns and villages.
Many of them claim that in order to preserve their way of life, be it their farms or their way of living off the land, they need to adopt these policies. According to many of them, they don’t want to do it, they just have to.
As you can probably imagine, many people, both in and outside of Africa have found this idea appalling. Reading through articles on Orania, regardless of your personal views, you can see a deep hatred for the concept.
Islamic World
Other than the divulgence of social conservatism in Africa, the other severely hated variant (at least in the west, anyway) is Islamic social conservatism. But you may just know it as Sharia…
In many ways, Sharia is similar to other forms of social conservatism. However, it emerged completely separately from the other subsects of social conservatism.
Instead of arising from the Bible and other Christian religious texts, Sharia came from the Quran, and other sacred Muslim texts.
Many of the Sharia laws are compatible with social conservative views in other parts of the world. However, it’s quite often that Sharia governs day-to-day life and the economy (somewhat) which social conservatism does not.
Sharia promotes a rigid social order, one that has certain gender inequalities. In particular, women still have almost zero rights whatsoever, which is egregious even to the most cynical of Western social conservatives.
On top of this, Sharia also focuses on traditionally fiscal (economic) policies. These often overlap with fiscal conservatives’ views on these situations.
Prominent Social Conservatives
Since the beginning of social conservatism, there have been several high profile social conservatives throughout world history. The most famous currently active social conservatives include:
- Rush Limbaugh
- Andrew Scheer
- Sarah Palin
- Ron Gray
- Mike Pence
- Nigel Farage
- Phyliss Schlafly
- Santiago Abascal
- Mike Huckabee
- Pauline Hanson
Do you know any social conservatives? How do their views differ? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Gage Skidmore via Flickr.