What is Conservatism?
08 Nov 2026 - 08 Nov 2026
- Phil Agre's most overly political piece of writing What Is Conservatism and What Is Wrong with It? . It rests on the identification of conservatism with aristocracy, which some might take issue with.
Q: What is conservatism? A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Q: What is wrong with conservatism? A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.
From the pharaohs of ancient Egypt to the self-regarding thugs of ancient Rome to the glorified warlords of medieval and absolutist Europe, in nearly every urbanized society throughout human history, there have been people who have tried to constitute themselves as an aristocracy. These people and their allies are the conservatives.
The tactics of conservatism vary widely by place and time. But the most central feature of conservatism is deference: a psychologically internalized attitude on the part of the common people that the aristocracy are better people than they are.
Random
- Aristocracy: A Very Short Introduction Doyle, William
- [good book but focused exclusively on European culture (and classical antecedants), would be useful to have something cross-cultural]
The most important thing about aristocracies, from a 21st-century perspective, is that they and their influence have largely disappeared.
The final breakthrough occurred only in 1748, when Montesquieu formally abandoned the Aristotelian taxonomy of states.... the true destiny of nobles for Montesquieu lay in monarchies. There they played an essential role as an intermediary power between monarch and subjects, upholding the laws and preventing the state’s degeneration into despotism. His fundamental maxim was ‘no monarch, no nobility; no nobility, no monarch’.
Personal nobility is not unknown: it was found in the Table of Ranks for state servants established in Russia by Peter the Great in 1722, or the somewhat similar titular hierarchy created by Napoleon for his empire in 1808. But both creations were pervaded by the assumption that hereditary distinction was still a more desirable ideal, and that personal ennoblement was simply a way-station on the road to full heredity
Yet in certain circumstances nobility might be lost. ...[eg] if its holder engaged in activities deemed incompatible with nobility. In France, this was called derogation (dérogeance) and was incurred if a nobleman undertook manual labour or retail trade...‘It is base and sordid gain that derogates from nobility. The proper course for nobility is to live on one’s rents, or at least not to sell one’s efforts or one’s labour.’
- Man Marx was onto something wasn't he
The essence of aristocracy is inequality. It rests on the presumption that some people are naturally better than most others.