Conservatism historically means defending inequality and tradition over science

Evidence

By the end of the nineteenth century it was widely believed in both Europe and the United States that political views and political institutions could be ranged on a continuum from the radical left to the conservative right. The conservative right has believed in self-enrichment by personal exertion and in the rightness of the social and economic inequalities that follow from such individual competition; it has been opposed to such interferences with rugged individualism as social welfare legislation, state regulation of economic activity, and to the association of working men into labor unions. More generally conservatism has championed the status quo, religion, and tradition over science and humanitarianism. The radical left has chiefly stood for economic and social equality, for full suffrage, civil liberties, labor unions, welfare legislation, change, and science. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 460 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The Berkeley group took the definitive component of conservatism to be an attachment to “things as they are,” a resistance to social change. Primary values for the American conservative seemed to include practicality, ambition, and financial success. “Most people get pretty much what they deserve,” the conservative holds. The rich have earned their wealth and the poor their poverty. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 461 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Conservative views were broadly tolerated as scientific, socialist ones narrowly. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 102; Depression-era American conservatism was weak as an intellectual force — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1445; Conservatism historically meant attaching to the status quo and resisting science and change — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 460 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Conservatism historically meant attaching to the status quo and resisting science and change #corroborates (0.97) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 460
• Conservatism was defined by acceptance of existing inequality as deserved #corroborates (0.92) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 461