To what extent has the New Right departed from Traditional Conservatism?

The New Right was the most significant deviation from the traditional conservatism in the history of the ideology. It was predominantly carried out through the policies of Reagan and Thatcher in the 70s and 80s. It was not a simple weakening of principles, but the abandonment of some and the increased strictness of others. The New Right was more ideologically rigid than traditional conservatism and more focused on economic benefit and free-market policies. It did however remain loyal to ideas of property and authority, and adapted ideas of hierarchy, human nature and tradition. In terms of remaining loyal to traditional conservatism, the New Right’s ideas on private property were similar. The main principles concerning property were; that private property promotes positive social values (such as incentive to earn), owning property promotes security (thus fulfilling a base human desire), and property gives citizens a ‘stake’ in society – thus giving them a reason to uphold law and order. The New Right arguably even more aggressively believed in the benefit of private property, and Thatcher’s ‘Right to Buy’ scheme is a great example of this steadfast belief. Concerning authority, The New Right and Traditional Conservatives together believed in the moral imperfection of humans and Paternalism. These beliefs led to tough and exemplary laws. Thatcher’s attacks on ‘dependency culture’ demonstrated her government’s ideological belief in the need for Paternalism, aligning Thatcherism with traditional conservatism. Whilst both ideologies believe in hierarchy, they differ in their definitions of it. Whilst traditionals advocate the ‘natural order’ of the aristocracy, the New Right sees the free market as the route to establish a hierarchy. In terms of human nature they also differ – whilst they both believe in the moral imperfections of humanity, the New Right believe that humans are capable of rationality, especially concerning economics and thus are able to change. On the other hand traditionals advocated extreme pragmatism. In terms of ‘Organic Society’, a key tenet of Traditional Conservatism, the New Right completely departed. Borne out of their more favourable view of human rationality, the New Right disassociated themselves from the traditional focus on tradition, and the One Nation belief that society has ‘stood the test of time’ and thus must be preserved. Thatcher’s radical monetarist policies and unwavering support of the free market are testament to this. In summary we can see that whilst there are clear tensions between the two ideologies on a few fronts, the core conservative values of pragmatism, authority, security and hierarchy remain rooted in the New Right ideology.