Conservatism in Russia and the Characteristic Features of Russian Conservative Socio-political Science in the First Half of the 19th Century

Abstract

Herein an overview of the approaches to the concept of “conservatism” is given, proving that in the history of socio-political ideas in Russia over three centuries the binary approach to conservatism was apparent: on the one hand, conservatism is seen as the ideology of preserving the existing political system, on the other hand, it embodies the values of the folk culture. Such approach was actively applied to the analysis of conservatism by a lot of scholars including M.P Pogodin, A.S. Khomyakov, Yu.F. Samarin, D.I. Tyutchev, B.N. Chicherin, L.A. Tikhomirov, A.D. Gradovsky, M.N. Katkov, N.A. Berdyaev, V.V. Rozanov, S.L. Frank, G.P Fedotov, N.O. Lossky, D.I. Romashkov. Mostly due to their creative efforts the term “genuine conservatism” received its true meaning, combining political, cultural and religious understanding of Russian conservatism and its essence as the idea of Russian culture, state and society development.