NSU profs detail history, meaning of political labels

Sep. 1—Though they're now associated with modern political parties, the ideologies "liberal" and "conservative" have long histories, as two Northeastern State University professors of political science recently explained.

NSU Associate Professor Christopher Weaver, who holds a doctorate in political science, traced these words back through time.

"While the word 'liberal' has referred in various forms to 'freedom' for centuries, as a political ideology, 'liberal' dates back to the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries," said Weaver. "It began with an emphasis on individual rights and legitimate government power rooted in consent of the governed. It was responding to a status quo in which individual citizens had few civil liberties or protections from government, and rulers often claimed to rule by divine right."

The word "conservative" has different roots.

"'Conservative' has always been a more contextual or situational ideology that is responding to the politics of its time. It's often been associated with a defense of tradition or the status quo, against more radical or progressive movements," he said.

Assistant Professor Alex Cole, who also has a doctorate in political science, said conservatism emerged in the 19th century as a response to liberalism and the Napoleonic conquest in Europe.

"In Europe, to be conservative means to be fond of royal authority and see rights as a reflection of one's station or place in society," said Cole. "At its core, liberalism is a defense of equal liberty and individual rights, and conservatism is a defense of hierarchy and tradition."

Cole said this schema is much more complicated in the United States, as both liberals and conservatives are "liberal" inasmuch as they seek to defend individual rights; they just disagree on how best to accomplish this.

The primary "fault line" between American liberals and conservatives, he said, lies in the role of the government.

"To liberals, individuals cannot be free unless there is substantial economic equality and protections for personal expression secured by state action. To conservatives, economic equality may be deleterious to freedom and the ability to make a life through market competition trumps freedom of expression in many ways," said Cole. "The common ground between these groups is a belief in individual rights as the primary American value that law seeks to uphold, but they differ greatly on what that freedom implies and how it is to be practiced."

Both of these terms have changed through the years, as Weaver explained.

"Over time, the principles of classical liberalism — individual rights, limited government, consent of the government, etc. — have become more widely accepted, and as a result, multiple parties have laid claim to the label," he said.

Weaver said some use the term to refer to yet further removal of social restrictions — such as those on same-sex marriage — even though early liberals may not have extended protections this far.

"Others view the role of liberals as pushing back against traditional authority, as early liberals did against monarchy," said Weaver. "Nevertheless, many of the principles of liberalism are now the status quo, and so conservatives may also view themselves as liberal in a classical sense."

Ultimately, he said, an ideological label is more than just a set of philosophical ideas; it's a group of people united by a common identity.

"People who consider themselves liberal or conservative can change their beliefs, and therefore arguably change the meaning of the label," said Weaver. "In similar ways, 'conservative' can change drastically depending on the exact status quo one is defending."

Weaver said "liberal" has long been less popular than "conservative" or "moderate" in terms of American self-identification.

"For example, it's long been the case that fewer Americans identify as 'liberal' than identify as members of the Democratic Party," he said. "In some ways, identification or disidentification with a label is the result of how members of that group are portrayed in the broader culture and media."

Weaver thinks it's still notable how much relative staying power these terms have had.

"There are any number of possible ideological labels, and many have been used in the U.S. and around the world. Nevertheless, these have tended to dominate in terms of how Americans describe themselves and others," he said. "In order to stick around, they've had to be used and understood in pretty flexible terms."

Weaver said while it may be tempting to think Americans will adopt new ideological labels, he suspects it will be difficult for any others to supplant these in the immediate future.

"Nevertheless, it's still important to keep in mind that many Americans don't actually view themselves in ideological terms, and even fewer strictly adhere to a consistent set of ideological beliefs," said Weaver. "The terms are much more likely to change in meaning than they are to change in usage or popularity."

A 2020 Gallup poll on Americans' overall ideological views found 36 percent, on average, identified as conservative, 35 percent as moderate, and 25 percent as liberal. These numbers are about the same as they were in 2019.