The genesis of modern conservatism as a problem of 20th century social sciences

This article analyses debates which have taken place in the social sciences since the 1920's concerning the genesis and character of modern European c onservatism, with a special focus on Germany. It concentrates on selected a nalytical studies that conceived of conservatism as an historical and socia l phenomenon. Studies which assumed a moralising or prescriptive standpoint . thus reducing conservatism to a mere political attitude or a Weltanschauu ng, are not considered. The author adopts the typological formulations for interpreting conservatism developed by S. Huntington and K. Lenk, which dis tinguish between three types of approaches: socio-historical, anthropologic al and situational. Although the studies commented on differ considerably, all viewed the French Revolution as a decisive factor for the genesis of mo dern conservatism. Exploring the historical development of twentieth centur y theories of conservatism with the help of empirical research of the revol utionary epoch allows a more precise and contextualised understanding of su ch concepts. Applying any single one of these concepts is not sufficient to cover the whole spectrum of anti-revolutionary attitudes and actions, embe dded as they are in often divergent national contests. It is necessary, the refore, to locate the:historical typologies of conservatism in respect to b oth its ideological structure as well as to its social carriers.