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Social conservatism is a political or moral ideology that believes the government has a role in encouraging or enforcing traditional values or behaviors based on the belief that these are what keep people civilized and decent. A second meaning of the term social conservativism has developed in the Nordic countries and Continental Europe. Here it refers to liberal conservatives supporting modern European welfare states. Social conservatism is distinct from cultural conservatism which focuses on cultural aspects of the issues, such as protecting one's culture, although there are some overlaps.

The accepted meaning of traditional morality often differs from group to group within social conservatism. Thus, there are really no policies or positions that could be considered universal among social conservatives. There are, however, a number of principles to which at least a majority of social conservatives adhere. Social conservatives in many countries generally: favor the pro-life position in the abortion controversy and oppose embryonic stem cell research; promote traditional marriage and the nuclear family model as society's foundational unit; oppose expansion of civil marriage and child adoption rights to couples in homosexual relationships; promote public morality and traditional family values; oppose secularism and privatization of religious belief; support the prohibition of drugs, prostitution and euthanasia; and support the censorship of pornography, obscenity, indecency.

Many Christian Democratic Parties and Islamic parties around the world are socially conservative.

1 Social conservatism and economics
2 Social conservatism and nationalism
3 List of social conservative political parties
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links

Social conservatism and economics

There is no necessary link between social and fiscal conservatism; some social conservatives are otherwise apolitical or even left-wing on economic issues. Social conservatives may support a degree of economic intervention. This concern for material welfare, like advocacy of traditional mores, will often have a basis in religion. Examples include the Christian Social Union of Bavaria, the Family First and Democratic Labor Party of Australia, and the Communitarian movement in the United States.

There is more overlap between social conservatism and paleoconservatism, in that they both have respect for traditional social forms. However, paleoconservatism has a strong cultural conservative strain which social conservatism, in and of itself, is not necessarily allied with. John Burger, wrote in Crisis Magazine in 2005: "The presence of a significant population of culturally Catholic immigrants offers hope that their culture will permeate a decadent American society and contribute to the re-evangelization of native-born Catholics... Abortion is still illegal in most Latin American countries. And in most areas, it’s not even part of a person’s consciousness." ¹

Social conservatism and nationalism

In Europe, some social conservative parties also support nationalism and regionalism, based on ideas according to which the national wealth and the traditional values would lose from free immigration and free trade. However, these positions are contradictory with Christian religious beliefs, and are repetitively criticized by representatives of Catholic and Protestant churches. Dominant conservative parties, also called moderate right parties refrain from nationalism, trying to integrate citizens from ethnic minorities.