Saving Society from the 'Presumption of Reason

Classical Conservative and New Right Anti-Welfarism in Post-War America

Bibliographic Data

ID2369947
AuthorsDarren Barany (State University of New York, Dutchess, USA, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume37
Issue6
Pages779-795
Publication date2011-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0896-9205 • E-ISSN: 1569-1632
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0896920510380949
OpenAlexW2026444249
LanguageEN
References cited11

This article clarifies some of the contradictions of post-war American conservatism. It chiefly investigates and critiques the traditionalist (i.e. classical) conservative origins of the anti-statism and anti-welfarism of the American New Right and some of the main outlets from which its ideas were mobilized during this period. This brief intellectual and political history explains some of the origins of the anti-statism and anti-left populism which are so visible in today's conservative movement and which significantly inform contemporary policy discourse. The article concludes that while a fundamental contribution of the American New Right was that it successfully integrated variable forms of conservatism, which had benefited the conservative movement, both politically and ideologically, it had not yet adopted an analysis of poverty and welfare entitlements which highlighted the racial composition of the welfare rolls and behavior explanations for economic hardship. Nor had it yet problematized the changing American family structure

Austerity · Conservatism · Economics · Ideology · New Right · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Positive economics · Presumption · Reactionary · Sociology · Statism · Welfare · Welfarism · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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