Conservatism and authority in the postmodern age

Eno Trimçev

Chapter 4 in The Conservative Critique of Liberalism, 2026, pp 70-88 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The chapter asserts that traditional conservatism is obsolete in the context of postmodernity, defined as the culture shaped by the self-conscious technological reconfiguration of one's experience of oneself, others, and the world. It posits that postmodern culture represents a purely artificial state – an effective order that serves as the inverse of Hobbes's state of nature. The chapter outlines a ‘postmodern conservatism’ tailored to this restless ever-changing culture through creativity, pragmatism, futurism, strategic duplicity, and open frivolity. Departing from traditional principles of morality, culture, and organic change, this postmodern model remains conservative in its thoroughgoing skepticism, rigorous avoidance of rational progressive agendas, and in its demand that citizens need not change anything about themselves. By being more attuned to the postmodern ethos than its adversaries, postmodern conservatism retains the competitive adaptability that once ensured the success of traditional conservatism.

Keywords: Postmodern conservatism; Futurism; Artificiality; Authority; Thomas Hobbes; Alexandre Kojève (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035309214
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035309221.00010 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22181_5

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Darrel McCalla ().