“He Who Leaves the Old Way for the New, Knows What He Leaves, but Does Not Know What He Will Find”: Traditionalism, Zero-Sum Thinking, and Imagined Future

Abstract

The radical rejection of the liberal political movements of the 1960s and 1970s by conservative politicians has been a core aspect of conservative politics. In fact, the youth movements of the 1960s broadened the goals of the labor and civil rights movement, also dealing with pacifism, ecologism, promotion of a new sexuality, new rights for women, and different sexual identities foreshadowing a revolutionary future for Western societies. It has been referred to as the silent revolution to define this movement of social change that began more than half a century ago. However, the reaction to the changes promoted by this movement since the 1980s has led to a cultural backlash. Fear of diversity, immigration, and economic and ecological crises has thus been the trigger for the new conservatism and populism. Everything produced by globalization has been considered decadent and immoral compared to a great and glorious past. The fortunes of the new populist parties in this sense are based on a traditionalist ideology that is not new at all, however. This article shows from a historical perspective how the idea of a threatening future found in the contemporary populist right is a radical conservative tendency that recurs throughout human history. In the article, an attempt will be made to define the culture and psychology of this conservative rejection of the future. Finally, possible solutions will be described in order to imagine a positive idea of the future.