Organic society/state

• Conservatives believe that society is not created but emerges and grows, developing like an organism.
• Conservatives support gradual change, and believe that society will evolve to fit the needs of the present.
• Traditional conservatives like Hobbes, Burke and Oakeshott believed that once the state provides the necessary order, society will emerge organically, maturing into a complicated organism of traditions and customs.
• Hobbes believed in an absolute monarchy where the sovereign controlled every aspect of society.
• However traditional conservatives like Burke and Oakeshott favoured societal ideas which limited the power of the monarch and established the principle of parliamentary sovereignty.
• Change to conserve- links to ideas of organic change in society.
• Conservatives believe it is important to adapt to changing circumstances in society as long as the basic principles are upheld.
• Many conservatives value gradual change rather than radical change.