Is conservatism merely a ruling class ideology?
A ruling class ideology as defined by Karl Marx is “the class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production... the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it”, in other words a ruling class is the social class that decides and sets governmental policy. Traditionally conservative supporters have originated from upper and middle class backgrounds and its core themes such as the need to conserve and ownership of private property suggest that is in fact a ruling class ideology.
For conservatives a fundamental theme is to conserve or tradition, tradition leaves the ruling class in its …show more content…
This suggests that conservatism is not a ruling class ideology as it is looking out for the interests of the poor, although it could also be said that this is evidence of the opposite as moral of the working class effects the ruling class, low moral may lead to an uprising or revolution where the ruling class are overpowered, this is in fact an idea prophesied by Karl Marx who believed that revolution would lead to a state controlled by the proletariat also known as the working class and eventually would ‘wither away’ to a classless society, evidently this is a result that conservatives greatly wish to avoid.
Furthermore the new right promotes a free-market; a free-market is a trade market with little to no state intervention. This could result in low taxation less expensive prices on consumer goods as a state free market would no longer have government determined prices. In a sense this is a sign that conservatism does not only favour the ruling class as these conditions benefit those less wealthy. On the other hand this can be seen to advance the interests of the ruling class, as the low tax rates allow the wealthy to stay wealthy and the