Social conservatism - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism

Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...

often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role in the social and moral affairs of its citizens. In the United States during the mid to late 20th century, the notion of preserving traditional values was seen by many social conservatives as an ideal that had been gradually eroded by a number of federal legislative passages and US Supreme Court decisions, the result of which led to a shift in mainstream social conservatism that involved an increase in grassroots activism and lobbying efforts in an attempt to preserve traditional values at the federal level. This ideology typically saw social change as suspicious, and believed in returning what were referred to as fundamental values. A second meaning of the term social conservatism developed in the Nordic countries

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

and continental Europe

Continental Europe

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

. There it refers to liberal conservatives

Liberal conservatism

Liberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...

supporting modern European welfare states. Social conservatism is distinct from cultural conservatism

Cultural conservatism

Cultural conservatism is described as the preservation of the heritage of one nation, or of a shared culture that is not defined by national boundaries. Other variants of cultural conservatism are concerned with culture attached to a given language such as Arabic.The shared culture may be as...

which focuses on cultural aspects of the issues, such as protecting one's culture, although there are some overlaps.

The accepted goals and ideologies related to preserving traditions and/or morality often differs from group to group within social conservatism

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

. Thus, there are really no policies or positions that could be considered universal among social conservatives. There are, however, a number of principles to which at least a majority of social conservatives adhere. The general ideas and philosophies social conservatives support are the nuclear family

Nuclear family

Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...

model as society's foundational unit, public morality

Public morality

Public morality refers to moral and ethical standards enforced in a society, by law or police work or social pressure, and applied to public life, to the content of the media, and to conduct in public places...

and what they call traditional family values

Family values

Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....

, and they oppose secularism

Secularism

Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...

and militant atheism

Atheism

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

. As an application of these general principles, social conservatives in many countries generally: favor the pro-life

Pro-life

Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...

position in opposing abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, embryonic stem cell research, and euthanasia

Euthanasia

Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....

; oppose both eugenics

Eugenics

Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...

(inheritable genetic modification) and human enhancement

Human enhancement

Human enhancement refers to any attempt to temporarily or permanently overcome the current limitations of the human body through natural or artificial means...

(transhumanism

Transhumanism

Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...

) while supporting bioconservatism; support defining marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

as the union of one man and one woman, thus opposing same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....

; support the continued prohibition of recreational or medically non-beneficial drugs

Prohibition (drugs)

The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent drug use. Prohibition of drugs has existed at various levels of government or other authority from the Middle Ages to the present....

; oppose prostitution

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

, premarital sex

Premarital sex

Premarital sex is sexual activity, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex, practiced by persons who are unmarried. Although it has always been practiced, in the West it has increased in prevalence since the mid-1950s...

, and non-marital sex

Extramarital sex

Extramarital sex occurs when a married person engages in sexual activity with someone other than his or her marriage partner.Where extramarital sexual relations breach a sexual norm it may also be referred to as adultery, fornication, philandery, or infidelity...

; and object to pornography

Anti-pornography movement

The term anti-pornography movement is used to describe those who argue that pornography has a variety of harmful effects, such as encouragement of human trafficking, desensitization, pedophilia, dehumanization, sexual exploitation, sexual dysfunction, and inability to maintain healthy sexual...

and what they consider to be obscenity

Obscenity

An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...

or indecency.

Social conservatism and other ideological views

There is no necessary link between social and fiscal conservatism

Fiscal conservatism

Fiscal conservatism is a political term used to describe a fiscal policy that advocates avoiding deficit spending. Fiscal conservatives often consider reduction of overall government spending and national debt as well as ensuring balanced budget of paramount importance...

; some social conservatives such as Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee

Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...

, George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

, and Michael Gerson

Michael Gerson

Michael John Gerson is an op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, a Policy Fellow with the ONE Campaign, and a former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as President George W...

are otherwise apolitical, centrist or left-wing

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

on economic and fiscal issues. Social conservatives may sometimes support economic intervention where the intervention serves moral or cultural aims. Many Social Conservatives support a balance of fair trade

Fair trade

Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...

with a true free market

Free market

A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...

. This concern for material welfare, like advocacy of traditional mores

Mores, in sociology, are any given society's particular norms, virtues, or values. The word mores is a plurale tantum term borrowed from Latin, which has been used in the English language since the 1890s....

, will often have a basis in religion. Examples include the Christian Social Union of Bavaria

Christian Social Union of Bavaria

The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...

, the Family First Party

Family First Party

The Family First Party is a socially conservative minor political party in Australia. It has two members in the South Australian Legislative Council...

and Katter's Australian Party

Katter's Australian Party

Katter's Australian Party is a registered political party in Australia. It was formed by the independent Federal Member of Parliament Bob Katter with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Commission on 3 June 2011...

, and the communitarian

Communitarianism

Communitarianism is an ideology that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. That community may be the family unit, but it can also be understood in a far wider sense of personal interaction, of geographical location, or of shared history.-Terminology:Though the term...

movement in the United States.

There is more overlap between social conservatism and paleoconservatism, in that they both have respect for traditional social forms. However, paleoconservatism bears a closer resemblance to New Deal Democrats in domestic policies and is isolationist in foreign policy.

Canada

In Canada, social conservatism is a political attitude that is widespread, though not as pronounced as in the United States. It represents conservative positions on issues of family, sexuality and morality. In the European and North American context believe in natural law

Natural law

Natural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...

, and traditional family values

Family values

and policies.

Compared to the situation in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, social conservatism has not been as influential in Canada. The main reason is that Right-wing, neoliberal politics as promoted by leaders such as Paul Martin

Paul Martin

Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

and Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper

Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...

have not been linked to moral or social conservatism. That is, there is no large political party behind it, and social conservatives have divided their votes.

In modern Canadian politics, social conservatives often felt that they were being sidelined by officials in the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

. Many of them felt shunned by a party that was largely led and run by Red Tories for the last half of the twentieth century. Many eventually made their political home with the Reform Party of Canada

Reform Party of Canada

The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....

and its forerunner the Social Credit Party of Canada

Social Credit Party of Canada

The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...

. Despite Reform leader Preston Manning

Preston Manning

Ernest Preston Manning, CC is a Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance...

's attempts to broaden the support of the Reform movement through populism

Populism

Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...

, the party was dominated by social conservatives. Manning's reluctance to allow his party to wholly embrace socially conservative values contributed to his deposition as leader of the new Canadian Alliance

Canadian Alliance

The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...

in favour of Stockwell Day

Stockwell Day

Stockwell Burt Day, Jr., PC, MP is a former Canadian politician, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He is a former cabinet minister in Alberta, and a former leader of the Canadian Alliance. Day was MP for the riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla in British Columbia and the president of...

United States

Social conservatism is generally focused on the preservation of traditional values, primarily within the family but also with respect to society as a whole. Today's mainstream social conservatives, in contrast to "small-government" conservatives and "states-rights" advocates, have increasingly appealed to federal legislators and Presidential candidates with the notion that the federal government should bear the responsibility to overrule the states in order to preserve their stated ideal of traditional values; this is not to take away from the fact that a significant portion of "small-government" and "states-rights" conservatives also share many of the ideals of mainstream social conservatives. The exception in how these conservative groups differ tends to be with respect to the role of the federal government versus the role of local government, where the "states-rights" conservatives tend to advocate for social reform and/or preservation of traditional values at the state and local levels.

Social conservatives emphasize traditional views of social units such as the family, church, or locale. Social conservatives would typically define family in terms of local histories and tastes. Social conservatism may entail support for defining marriage as between a man and a woman (thereby banning gay marriage) and laws placing restrictions on abortion.

The Republican Party (United States)

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

is the largest political party with some socially conservative ideals incorporated into its platform.

Social conservatives are strongest in the South, where they are arguably considered a mainstream political force on a national level. In recent years, the supporters of social conservatism played a major role in the political coalitions of Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

, George W. Bush

George W. Bush

and Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...

Australia

Katter's Australian Party
Katter's Australian Party
Katter's Australian Party is a registered political party in Australia. It was formed by the independent Federal Member of Parliament Bob Katter with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Commission on 3 June 2011...
National Party of Australia
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
Democratic Labor Party
Democratic Labor Party
The Democratic Labor Party is a political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism and opposes neo-liberalism. The first "DLP" Senator in decades, party vice-president John Madigan was elected to the Australian Senate with 2.3 percent of the primary vote in Victoria at the 2010 federal...
Australia First Party
Australia First Party
The Australia First Party is a minor far-right political party in Australia that is federally registered and is also registered to contest local elections in New South Wales. The Party is led by Jim Saleam. Saleam is the Chairman of the Party in New South Wales but plays a major role in the Party...
A large number of Liberal Party of Australia
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

, Family First Party
Family First Party
The Family First Party is a socially conservative minor political party in Australia. It has two members in the South Australian Legislative Council...

and to a lesser extent Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

members in Australia are also considered socially conservative.

Belgium

Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (Christian democrat
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...

)
Vlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang is a Belgian far-right political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels that advocates the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration, whereby immigrants would be obliged to adopt Flemish culture and language...

Canada

Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
Family Coalition Party of Ontario
Family Coalition Party of Ontario
The Family Coalition Party is a small political party in Ontario, Canada that promotes a socially conservative ideology. It was formed in 1987 by members of the pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and has fielded candidates in every provincial election since then...
Christian Heritage Party of Canada
Christian Heritage Party of Canada
The Christian Heritage Party of Canada, also referred to as CHP Canada, is a federal political party that advocates that Canada be governed according to Biblical principles...

France

A number of Union for a Popular Movement
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...

members in France as considered socially conservative.
- including the Christian Democratic Party, UMP affiliate

and, including far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...

and nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

ideas

Movement for France
Movement for France
The Movement for France , abbreviated to MPF, is a French conservative and eurosceptic political party, founded on 20 November 1994, with a marked regional stronghold in the Vendée. It is led by Philippe de Villiers, once communications minister under Jacques Chirac.The party is considered...
National Front
National Republican Movement
National Republican Movement
The National Republican Movement is a French nationalist political party, created by Bruno Mégret with former Club de l'Horloge alumni, Yvan Blot and Jean-Yves Le Gallou, as a split from Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front on January 24, 1999.Although political observers have considered the MNR to...

Germany

Christian Democratic Union
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

(Christian democrat
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...

)
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
Deutsche Zentrumspartei (ZENTRUM) (German Centre Party)
Partei Bibeltreuer Christen (PBC) (Party of Bible-abiding Christians)
Partei für Arbeit, Umwelt und Familie (AUF-Partei) (Party for Labour, Environment and Family)

Italy

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....

and, with nationalist and separatist ideas

Lega Nord

Japan

Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)
The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a centre-right political party in Japan. It is one of the most consistently successful political parties in the democratic world. The LDP ruled almost continuously for nearly 54 years from its founding in 1955 until its defeat in the 2009 election...
People's New Party
People's New Party
The People's New Party is a centre-right, Conservative, Japanese political party formed on 17 August 2005 in the aftermath of the defeat of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Japan Post privatisation bills which led to a snap election.-History:The Kokumin Shinto, headed by Shizuka Kamei, includes...
New Party Nippon
New Party Nippon
The New Party Nippon is a Japanese political party formed on August 21, 2005. The party is headed by the former Nagano governor Yasuo Tanaka, and includes Diet members Kōki Kobayashi , Takashi Aoyama, Makoto Taki, and Hiroyuki Arai, who left the Liberal Democratic Party in opposition to Prime...
New Komeito Party
New Komeito Party
The , New Kōmei Party, or NKP is a centre-right political party in Japan founded by members of the Nichiren Buddhist organization Sōka Gakkai. The leadership and financing of the two groups are currently independent...

New Zealand

The Kiwi Party
The Family Party
The Conservative Party
New Zealand First
New Zealand First
New Zealand First is a political party in New Zealand that was founded in 1993, following party founder Winston Peters' resignation from the National Party in 1992...

Nigeria

People's Democratic Party
People's Democratic Party (Nigeria)
The People's Democratic Party is a political party in Nigeria. Its policies generally lie towards the right wing of the political spectrum. It has won every single Presidential elections since 1999, namely: 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic.-History:In...
All Nigeria Peoples Party

Sweden

Christian Democrats
Christian Democrats (Sweden)
The Christian Democrats ) is a political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1964 but did not enter parliament until 1985 in an electoral cooperation with the Centre Party and on the Christian Democrats' own accord in 1991. The leader since April 3, 2004 is Göran Hägglund. He succeeded Alf...
Sweden Democrats
Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats is a political party in Sweden, founded in 1988. SD describes itself as a nationalist movement although others use the term far-right. Since 2005, its party chairman is Jimmie Åkesson, while Björn Söder is the party secretary and parliamentary group leader. An Anemone...
National Democrats
National Democrats (Sweden)
The National Democrats is a minor political party in Sweden, formed by a faction of the Sweden Democrats in October 2001. The party describes itself as a democratic nationalist and ethnopluralist party....

Switzerland

Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland
Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland
The Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland is a political party in Switzerland....
Swiss Democrats
Swiss Democrats
The Swiss Democrats are a right-wing political party in Switzerland.The party is not represented in the Federal Assembly, but has two members of the Grand Council of Aargau....
Swiss People's Party
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

Turkey

Felicity Party
Great Union Party
Great Union Party
The Great Union Party is a nationalist political party in Turkey, created on January 29, 1993. It is considered to be close to the Grey Wolves organization, and is related to the "Alperen Ocakları" tendency, which operated a synthesis between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism, and separated itself...
Justice and Development Party
Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...

United Kingdom

Christian Party
The Cornerstone Group
Cornerstone Group
The Cornerstone Group is a socially conservative or traditional conservative political organisation within the British Conservative Party. The group emphasises traditional values, exemplified by the motto: Faith, Flag, and Family. It consists of Members of Parliament with a traditionalist stance,...

, a faction of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

(Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

only)
Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

(NI only)
Traditional Unionist Voice
Traditional Unionist Voice
Traditional Unionist Voice is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland founded on 7 December 2007, as an anti-St Andrews Agreement splinter group from the Democratic Unionist Party . Its first and current leader is Jim Allister who, until 2009, sat as an independent Member of the European...

(NI only)
British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...

United States

Constitution Party
Constitution Party (United States)
The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

Social conservative factions of political parties

Christian Democratic Party (Union for a Popular Movement
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...

)
Cornerstone Group
Cornerstone Group
The Cornerstone Group is a socially conservative or traditional conservative political organisation within the British Conservative Party. The group emphasises traditional values, exemplified by the motto: Faith, Flag, and Family. It consists of Members of Parliament with a traditionalist stance,...

(Conservative Party)
Republican Study Committee
Republican Study Committee
The Republican Study Committee [RSC] is a caucus of over 170 conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives...

(Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

)
Paleoconservatism
Paleoconservatism
Paleoconservatism is a term for a conservative political philosophy found primarily in the United States stressing tradition, limited government, civil society, anti-colonialism, anti-corporatism and anti-federalism, along with religious, regional, national and Western identity. Chilton...
Pro-life movement
Communitarianism
Communitarianism
Communitarianism is an ideology that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. That community may be the family unit, but it can also be understood in a far wider sense of personal interaction, of geographical location, or of shared history.-Terminology:Though the term...
Social conservatism in Canada
Distributism
Distributism
Distributism is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Catholic thinkers as G. K...
Social progressivism
Traditionalist conservatism
Traditionalist Conservatism
Traditionalist conservatism, also known as "traditional conservatism," "traditionalism," "Burkean conservatism", "classical conservatism" and , "Toryism", describes a political philosophy emphasizing the need for the principles of natural law and transcendent moral order, tradition, hierarchy and...
Tea Party movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...

Social conservatism and other ideological views

Canada

United States

Australia

Belgium

Canada

France

Germany

Italy

Japan

New Zealand

Nigeria

Sweden

Switzerland

Turkey

United Kingdom

United States

Social conservative factions of political parties

Further reading