Social .V. Cultural Conservatism

https://study.com/academy/lesson/cultural-conservatism-vs-social-conservatism.html Introduction:

Some people want to conserve society, while others want to conserve culture. So, what's the difference? . . .

There's a tradition in the modern world of fighting for tradition. This means something different to everyone, but one major trend that has emerged is conservatism. Conservatives, in this sense, support policies that prevent changes to institutions, ideas, or values that they see as being traditionally important. There's a history of conservative policies being favored by those who benefit from those traditions; privilege and power are often enshrined within tradition. So, what does all of this mean? Well, it all depends on which traditions you want to conserve.



https://www.thoughtco.com/cultural-conservatism-3303795 First half:

There are no solid dates for when cultural conservatism arrived on the American political scene, but it was certainly after 1987, which lead some people to believe the movement was started by writer and philosopher Allan Bloom, who in 1987, wrote Closing of the American Mind, an immediate and unexpected national best seller. While the book is mostly a condemnation of the failure of the liberal American university system, it's criticism of social movements in the US has strong cultural conservative overtones . . .

Often confused with social conservatism - which is more concerned with pushing social issues such as abortion and traditional marriage to the front of the debate - modern cultural conservatism has strayed from the simple anti-liberalization of society Bloom espoused. Cultural conservatives of today hold fast to traditional ways of thinking even in the face of monumental change. They believe strongly in traditional values, traditional politics and often have an urgent sense of nationalism.

It is in the area of traditional values where cultural conservatives most overlap with social conservatives (and other types of conservatives, for that matter). While cultural conservatives do tend to be religious, it is only because religion plays such a large role in US culture. Cultural conservatives, however, can be affiliated with any American sub-culture, but whether they are of the Christian culture, Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture or African American culture, they tend to align themselves tightly with their own. Cultural conservatives are often accused of racism, even though their flaws (if they surface) may be more xenophobic than racist.

To a much larger degree than traditional values, nationalism and traditional politics are primarily what concern cultural conservatives. The two are often strongly intertwined, and show up in national political debates under the auspices of "immigration reform" and "protecting the family." Cultural conservatives believe in "buying American" and oppose introducing foreign languages such as Spanish or Chinese on interstate signs or ATM machines.

Are you more of a social conservative or more of a cultural conservative? Or both equally? I suppose we could make two dimensions out of this analysis:

Social Liberal 5-4-3-2-1-0-1-2-3-4-5 Social Conservative

Cultural Liberal 5-4-3-2-1-0-1-2-3-4-5 Cultural Conservative

They are both very similar. I'm more of a Cultural Conservative than a Social Conservative because I think people should be given enough freedom to choose their own lives. If you push people too much, then the pushback would be worse than whatever would be otherwise allowed.

But, I take exception to the idea that "power and privileged" central to Conservatism. Conservatism has always been a fixture of the middle class, since we're long term thinkers and planners, and we have more to loose. (I'm culturally middle class).