Cultural conservatism

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Cultural conservatism is conservatism with respect to culture. This term is increasingly used in political debate, but is rather ill-defined. It is often confused with social conservatism, which is a school of thought that may overlap to a degree as far as its adherents but is nonetheless a quite distinct subset of the former.

One form of cultural conservatism argues for the preservation of a nation's domestic culture, usually in the face of external forces for change. Other strands of cultural conservatism are concerned with a shared cultural heritage not defined by national boundaries (e.g. European or Chinese cultures, or the culture attached to a given language such as Arabic).

In the United States, the term cultural conservative has increasingly been used as a replacement for the term religious right, the latter having developed some negative connotations and also being too narrow for convenience. An example of a cultural conservative in the broader sense would be Allan Bloom, arguing in The Closing of the American Mind against cultural relativism. In the US, the term cultural conservative may imply a conservative position in the culture wars.

In the Republic of Ireland prior to the 1980s and 1990s, cultural conservatism, in the form of support for the Irish language, Gaelic culture and Roman Catholicism, was a force of major political importance. It was associated in particular with the Fianna Fáil party.

See also

• Paleoconservatism
• Criticism of multiculturalism