Conservatism: Dream and Reality (Library of Conservative Thought) (Paperback)

~ Robert Nisbet (Author)

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Product Description

The essential concerns of conservatism are the same as those that motivated Nisbet's first and most influential book. The Quest for Community. In fact, Conservatism unites virtually all of Nisbet's work. In it, Nisbet deals with the political causes of the manifold forms of alienation that underwrite the human quest for community. The sovereign political state is more than a legal relationship of a superstructure of power, it is inseparable from its successive penetrations of man's economic, religious, kinship and local allegiances, and its revolutionary dislocations of established centers of power. Nisbet holds that although political philosophers are often conceived in terms of their views of the individual and the state, a more useful approach adds the factor of social groups or communities mediating between the individual and the state. Such groups comprise "society" the protection of which is the "sole object" of the conservative tradition, according to Nisbet. This conservative ideology arose in the West as a reaction to the French Revolution and its perceived impact upon traditional society. Edmund Burke was the first spokesman of the new ideology. In this book, Nisbet argues that modern conservatism throughout the West can be seen as a widening of Burke's indictment not only of the French Revolution, but of the larger revolution we have come to call modernity. From Edmund Burke and his contemporaries such as Bonald, de Maistre, Haller, and Savigny, down to T.S. Eliot, Christopher Dawson, Michael Oakeshott, Irving Babbit, Paul Elmer More, and Russell Kirk, the essential themes of political conservatism remained the same. They are centered upon history, tradition, property, authority, liberty and religion, and attack equally the political collectivism and radical individualism that have the same irrational outcomes. Nisbet makes the point that, at present, conservatism is also in a crisis, one created in large measure by mixing in the political arena economic liberalism and welfare state socialism - a lethal mix for conservative politics.

About the Author

Robert Nisbet was Albert Schweitzer Professor Emeritus at Columbia University, and adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He was an elected fellow of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Brad L. Stone is a professor in, and Director of, American Studies in the Department of Sociology at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 130 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers (October 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765808625
• ISBN-13: 978-0765808622
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,034,726 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is Conservatism?, January 20, 2002

By	Steve Jackson "stevejackson100atyahoocom" (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Conservatism: Dream and Reality (Concepts in Social Thought) (Paperback)

In this slim volume - not much more than 100 pages long - Robert Nisbet provides perhaps the best discussion of what the conservative "ideology" is all about. (I have never really understood the Kirkian "conservatism isn't an ideology" argument.) As Nisbet says, he will deal with the "pre-political," which is the strata of conservative essentials, although he doesn't neglect the "political strata."

Nisbet's approach to conservatism will be familiar to those who have read his other works. Chapter 1 concerns the birth of modern conservatism. It begins with Burke and his reaction to the French Revolution. (Burke, like Nisbet, saw Rousseau as the chief architect of the French Revolution.) It is further developed in its interaction with (and often reaction to) the Industrial Revolution. Chapter 2 (which takes up almost half of the book) is the most important chapter. It is entitled "the dogmatics of conservatism" and explains the various conservative essentials - property, religion, anti-egalitarianism, diffused authority. Chapter 3 - "consequences of conservatism" - treats some of the broader sociological and historical aspects of conservatism. Nisbet returns to some familiar territory, such as the birth of sociology in the 1800s by conservatives such as Le Play, historical writings on the Middle Ages, and the idea of progress. The final chapter - "prospects of conservatism" offers some shrewd comments on the state of contemporary conservatism (up to the date of the book's publication, 1986).

As another review said, this books will be an eye-opener to many people. Those who see conservatism as an ill-defined mixture of free enterprise, conservative religion, and libertarian-style individualism will be surprised by some of what Nisbet says.

This book covers a lot of territory in a few pages. Readers who want to examine some more recent works on conservatism (and which emphasize different strands of conservatism) should examine the works of Justin Raimundo (Reclaiming the American Right, in particular), Paul Gottfried (The Conservative Movement) and Samuel Francis (Beautiful Losers).

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Over-emphasizing laissez-faire, February 8, 2002

By	Kenneth Nyman (Sweden) - See all my reviews

Nisbet offers a quite consise and easy-to-read introduction to comtemporary conservatism. A good thing with Nisbet is that he - unlike Kirk who tend to focus on the anglosaxon world - also regards for example Hegel as a good thinker in the conservative tradition. However, a feeling is the over-emphasize on laissez-faire in conservatism. I'd recommend "The Meaning of Conservatism" as a more comprehensive guide to conservatism.