Cultural Conservatism

Trying to preserve cultural forms as faithfully as possible is a key motivation for cultural transmission. This paper reviews two possible accounts of it. One, evolutionary conservatism, is premised on the superiority of accumulated cultural knowledge compared to individual judgement – a theme that runs strongly through both the cultural evolution literature and conservative political philosophy. I argue for a clear distinction between evolutionary conservatism, and status quo conservatism as motivated by loss- and risk-aversion. I proceed to tackle some outstanding issues regarding status quo conservatism: its association with attachment to social hierarchies; the kind of cultural practices that tend to elicit it; and the question why an attitude motivated by considerations of costs and benefits might be manifested as a rigid or absolute principle. Seeing some cultural practices as equilibria in a coordination game helps answer these questions

Conservatism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Law · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

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  Open Access•Christine A Caldwell, Ailsa E Millen•Evolution and Human Behavior•2010

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• Convention

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• Three Kinds of “Conservatism”

  Karen Stenner•Psychological Inquiry•2009

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• The Hidden Agenda of the Political Mind

  Jason Weeden, Robert Kurzban•Hidden Agenda of the Political Mind•2014

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• Not By Genes Alone

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• The Origins of Unfairness

  Cailin O’connor, Cailin O'Connor•Origins of Unfairness•2019

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• On the conflicts between biological and social evolution and between psychology and moral tradition

  Donald T Campbell•American Psychologist•1975

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• Psychological motives and political orientation--The left, the right, and the rigid

  Jeff Greenberg, Eva Jonas•Psychological Bulletin•2003

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• Political conservatism as motivated social cognition

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• Are Peasants Risk-Averse Decision Makers

  J Henrich, Richard Mcelreath•Current Anthropology•2002

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• On the "Exporting" of Morality

  Open Access•Benjamin Peterson, J Allegra Smith et al.•Social Justice Research•2009

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