Reddit reviews The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin
We found 11 Reddit comments about The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
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> Conservatives tend to value hierarchy
They don't just value it — hierarchy is the common factor between all conservative movements since the French Revolution.
Read the Reactionary Mind. The author goes through hundreds of years of conservatism, comparing & contrasting different movements. Many of them wouldn't get along, especially in terms of economics, social politics, governance, etc. And yet they all agree on one thing:
> Hierarchy is the natural state of society.
Now, exactly who is on top, and why they're up there... well, the different movements would argue about that too.
EDIT: clarification, thanks to u/RicketyFrigate
Check out "The Reactionary Mind" by Corey Robin. All this hate and lawlessness are completely in line with conservatism throughout history. They will stop at nothing to preserve their status in the hierarchy. https://www.amazon.com/Reactionary-Mind-Conservatism-Edmund-Burke/dp/0199959110
> we really need to get to the bottom of whatever pathology is causing this
The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin
> Tracing conservatism back to its roots in the reaction against the French Revolution, Robin argues that the right is fundamentally inspired by a hostility to emancipating the lower orders. Some conservatives endorse the free market, others oppose it. Some criticize the state, others celebrate it. Underlying these differences is the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality. Despite their opposition to these movements, conservatives favor a dynamic conception of politics and society--one that involves self-transformation, violence, and war. They are also highly adaptive to new challenges and circumstances. This partiality to violence and capacity for reinvention has been critical to their success.
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> Written by a keen, highly regarded observer of the contemporary political scene, The Reactionary Mind ranges widely, from Edmund Burke to Antonin Scalia, from John C. Calhoun to Ayn Rand. It advances the notion that all rightwing ideologies, from the eighteenth century through today, are historical improvisations on a theme: the felt experience of having power, seeing it threatened, and trying to win it back.
Ah, the ol' conservative tactic of accusing others of the thing that they're guilty of.
The Reactionary Mind has more examples from the past 300 years
> It always sets off alarm bells to see Steven Pinker, Sam Harris, Prof. Weinstein, and Hirsi Ali get lumped in with conservatives - even though all of these people are liberal, and most are very liberal.
Conservatism by definition is the defense of hierarchy against leftist movements. The main political split in Western societies is between those who think hierarchical domination should be minimized or abolished, and those who believe it is natural, inevitable, and glorious. If they are defending an ethnic, gendered, or economic hierarchy of any kind, then they are doing conservative politics.
The Reactionary Mind by Corey Robin
>It seems to me that the gist of conservatism relies on two things, (1) mistrust of a priori (utopian) reasoning and revolutions, (2) and trust in incremental changes by past experiences and wisdom.
If you one day feel like challenging this conception of yours, i recommend taking a look at the book The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin by Corey Robin.
> I've met plenty of conservatives who don't see anyone as inferior.
It's not usually explicit, that specific people are inferior. But the ideology believes that the "better" people should control the lessers in various spheres in society. Great related book here: https://www.amazon.com/Reactionary-Mind-Conservatism-Edmund-Burke/dp/0199959110
> nowadays you won't see anyone on National Review or so implying someone is less worth.
https://newrepublic.com/article/131583/national-reviews-revolt-masses
source: http://coreyrobin.com/2016/02/27/why-you-should-never-listen-to-the-pundits/
...in case anyone wants to sign up for Corey's email updates—they're a goldmine (he's the author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin)
https://www.amazon.com/Reactionary-Mind-Conservatism-Edmund-Burke/dp/0199959110
> this is the mindset of conservatives since inherently you are being steadfast against a changing world. The idea already has conflict set and the world is crumbling around you as you get older and wish for whatever idea of right you had.
Totally. Corey Robin has been pushing (in his book and elsewhere) the thesis that conservatism has always essentially been about preserving the hierarchy of the past. And this is necessarily a project of oppression and occasional violence. Nice New Yorker writeup here.