Philosophy: liberal vs conservative: social organization

Self-tutoring about the philosophies of liberalism and conservatism: the tutor mentions an angle.

Reading about conservatism and liberalism, one issue might separate them: that of social organization. Simply put, conservatives tend to believe it’s important, while liberals don’t so much.

An example might be as simple as cliques one witnesses in high school. (Nonetheless, adult society can be just as cliquey.) A conservative will more likely believe that members of a clique have earned it; people rejected by the clique don’t deserve to be in it. Moreover, a conservative will more likely believe that the distinction between being in the clique or not is important. Social organization tends to be more important to conservatives.

A liberal, on the other hand, will more likely see the clique as an arbitrarily constructed group based on fancies of its members. Therefore, the liberal will more likely believe that, since the clique is based on nonsense, membership in it is also meaningless.

In my experience, it’s surprising how many people claim to be liberal, but are actually conservative, philosophically.

Interesting, eh?

scientificamerican.com

kirkcenter.org