How to Answer a 24-Mark Political Ideas Question (Edexcel A Level Politics): Revision Note

To what extent is conservatism united in its view of human nature?

You must use appropriate thinkers you have studied to support your answer and consider both sides in a balanced way.

[24 marks]

Model answer:

Since the rise of the new right in the 1970s, conservatives have disagreed about whether people are flawed beings who need guidance or rational individuals who should be left free. [AO1] Human imperfection is the traditional conservative belief that humans are psychologically, morally and intellectually flawed. [AO1] Traditional and one-nation conservatives, and neo-conservatives within the new right, broadly accept this view, while neo-liberals challenge it. [AO2] This essay considers moral imperfection, intellectual imperfection and the psychological need for community. [AO2] It argues that conservatism is united over moral imperfection but divided over reason, and that this divide matters more, so conservatism is only partly united. [AO3]

Conservatives are most united in believing that humans are morally flawed and need order to restrain them. [AO2] Hobbes argued that humans are needy, vulnerable and easily led astray, so that without a strong sovereign, life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". [AO1] For traditional conservatives, this means people will give up some freedom in return for the security that only authority can provide. [AO2] Neo-conservatives share this view, as their fear of social fragmentation leads them to support tough law and order and a firm public morality. [AO1] Even neo-liberals accept that the state must restrain wrongdoing. [AO2] Nozick defends a minimal state, limited to protecting people against force, theft and fraud. [AO1] However, their reasons differ. [AO2] Hobbes thinks order is needed because humans are dangerous, while Nozick thinks it is needed to protect each person's rights, not because people are morally weak. [AO2] This difference is real, but it does not divide conservatives over the need for order itself, so here conservatism is largely united. [AO3]

The deepest division is over intellectual imperfection, the belief that human reason is too limited to understand or redesign society. [AO2] Burke argued that change should be cautious and organic, and that practices passed down through generations hold more wisdom than any one person's reasoning. [AO1] Oakeshott suggested that society is unpredictable and humans are imperfect, so conservatism is about pragmatism rather than following an abstract plan. [AO1] Neo-liberal thinkers reject this view. [AO2] Rand's objectivism holds that humans are rational and that pursuing rational self-interest is a virtue. [AO1] Nozick's idea of self-ownership, that individuals own their bodies, talents, skills and labour, assumes people can judge their own interests better than the state. [AO1] This optimism led new right governments in the 1980s to pursue radical reforms such as privatisation, which a pragmatist like Oakeshott would see as the kind of rationalism he warned against. [AO2] Some argue that neo-liberals still accept imperfection, since they distrust the knowledge of state planners. [AO2] Yet this distrust is aimed at the state, not at the individual, whose reason neo-liberals trust. [AO3] Because intellectual imperfection is the basis of the conservative case for tradition and pragmatism, this is a fundamental divide, not a difference of emphasis. [AO3]

Conservatives are partly divided over psychological imperfection, the belief that humans need security and belonging. [AO2] Traditional and one-nation conservatives see people as social beings who find security in an organic society of families, communities and familiar institutions. [AO1] This is why Burke valued tradition, as it gives people a sense of where they belong. [AO2] One-nation conservatives add that the wealthy have an obligation to look after those unable to look after themselves, which keeps society cohesive. [AO1] Neo-liberals take a more atomistic view, in which individuals are self-reliant and society is little more than a collection of individuals. [AO1] Rand rejected altruism as a moral duty, treating rational self-interest as the basis of a good life. [AO1] However, the new right is itself split here, because neo-conservatives keep the traditional belief that people need shared values and strong institutions. [AO2] The division on this theme therefore runs through the new right rather than between old and new conservatives, which limits how far it divides the ideology as a whole. [AO3]

In conclusion, conservatism is only partly united in its view of human nature. [AO3] All conservatives accept that humans need order and that the state must restrain wrongdoing, and neo-conservatives keep the traditional belief in community. [AO3] But the neo-liberal faith in rational, self-owning individuals breaks with the belief in intellectual imperfection on which tradition and pragmatism rest. [AO3] That makes the division more significant than the agreement, because it concerns the reason conservatives give for being conservative at all. [AO3]

Mark allocation:

• [AO1] knowledge and understanding, [AO2] analysis, [AO3] evaluation

• This answer reaches Level 5 (20–24 marks) because:

  • it is organised by theme, comparing the strands within each paragraph

  • five specification thinkers (Hobbes, Burke, Oakeshott, Rand and Nozick) are used accurately to explain agreement and disagreement

  • each paragraph ends with a judgement on the extent of agreement, and the conclusion follows from them

Common errors:

• Describing each strand in turn, so the strands are never weighed against each other

• Naming a thinker and their strand without explaining how their ideas support the point

• Turning a question on one theme into a standard essay on another, such as the state

• Saving every judgement for the conclusion

Alternative content:

• How traditional and one-nation views of paternalism reflect different views of human nature

• Whether Hobbes's balance between order and a free life is closer to neo-liberal or traditional thinking

Write the word "extent" into your plan for every paragraph. If each theme ends with a judgement on how much the strands agree, and not just whether they do, your answer keeps the focus on the question from the introduction to the conclusion.