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According to conventional wisdom, aging past adolescence & young adulthood leads to conservatism. There are theoretical reasons to believe that certain dimensions of biological, social, & psychological aging contribute to some kind of conservatism. For instance, with the assumption of family responsibilities, a diffuse liberalism-humanitarianism is likely to be overshadowed by a specific concern for others. Or, aging persons may become more conservative in the sense that their attitudes & values become more resistant to change, because each subsequent experience is a smaller proportion of the ttal background of experiences. Empirical evidence on the topic is not definitive; moreover, in view of intransigent methodological problems which plague the study of aging effects, the evidence may never be definitive. However, cohort analysis in the US survey sample data reveals that in recent years persons aging beyond young adulthood & beyond middle age have tended to become more liberal in many respects, conforming to general social trends. Although the evidence suggests that attitudes probably become somewhat less susceptible to change as people grow older, there is scant evidence for any other constribution of aging to conservatism. 1 Table. Modified HA.

WHATEVER ONE TAKES CONSERVATISM TO MEAN, IT IS SURELY SOMETHING MORE THAN JUST ADHERENCE TO THE STATUS QUO OR DEFENSE OF SOME ORTHODOXY. IN FACT, THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM CONSERVATIVE IN BRITISH POLITICAL LIFE WAS AS MUCH ABUSIVE AS ANYTHING ELSE; IT WAS A TERM OF SOME DERISION APPLIED TO PEOPLE WITH A PARTICULAR SET OF BELIEFS. HOWEVER, THESE BELIEFS CORRESPOND CLOSELY TO ACCEPTED PRACTICE.

The notion that aging beyond adolescence and young adulthood leads to conservatism is part of the conventional wisdom, and there are theoretical reasons to believe that certain dimensions of biological, social and psychological aging contribute to some kinds of conser vatism. For instance, with the assumption of family respon sibilities, a diffuse liberalism-humanitarianism is likely to be overshadowed by concern for specific others. Or, aging persons may become more conservative in the sense that their attitudes and values become more resistant to change, because each subsequent experience is a smaller proportion of the total background of experiences. Empirical evidence on the topic is not definitive; moreover, in view of intransigent methodological problems which plague the study of aging effects, the evidence may never be definitive. However, cohort analysis of United States survey sample data reveals that in recent years persons aging beyond young adulthood and beyond middle age have tended to become more liberal in many respects, in conformity with general societal trends. However, these people have tended to become more conservative in a relative sense since their liberalization has not kept pace with changes in the total adult population. Although the evidence suggests that attitudes probably become somewhat less susceptible to change as people grow older, there is scant evidence for any other contribution of aging to conservatism.

English conservatism, unlike liberalism or socialism, can be interpreted as the ideology of dominant social & political groups seeking to maintain their power. This involves affirmation of class rule, of the ruling classes as guardians of the national interest, & of the deficient political judgment of other classes. Conservatism's grounding in the world of material interests & group tensions has led to its shifting concern from defense of feudal values to defenses of market or technocratic values. Socialism's avowed intent to unmask illusions clearly differentiates it from conservatism; similarly, liberalism in its origins focused on individual interests rather than on the community to which conservatism was devoted. Liberal success, however, led to a rapprochement with conservatism. Conservatism is likely, if the British economy continues to stagnate, to move increasingly toward stressing instrumental values. W. H. Stoddard.