conservatism n : a political or theological orientation advocating the preservation of the best in society and opposing radical changes [syn: conservativism]

Conservatism \Con*serv"a*tism\, n. [For conservatism.] The disposition and tendency to preserve what is established; opposition to change; the habit of mind; or conduct, of a conservative.

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Conservatism (Latin: conservare, "to preserve") The term has since been used to describe a wide range of views.

Seymour Martin Lipset wrote that liberals and conservatives "typically do not take alternative positions on issues of equality and freedom. Instead, each side appeals to one or the other core values, as liberals stress egalitarianism‘s primacy and the social injustice that flows from unfettered individualism, while conservatives enshrine individual freedom and the social need for mobility and achievement as values endangered by the collectivism inherent in liberal nostrums."

Political science often credits the Irish politician Edmund Burke (who served in the British House of Commons and opposed the French Revolution) with many of the ideas now called conservative.

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