Summary of Roger Scruton's How To Be A Conservative

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 I was born in the late 1940s, and raised in a lower middle-class household. My father was a trade unionist and a member of the Labour Party, who always wondered whether he had, in becoming a teacher in a primary school, betrayed his working-class origins.

#2 I had to learn how to live with my father, who was a socialist. I understood from him just how deeply class feeling had been engrained in the experience of his generation, and in the northern industrial communities from which he came. I learned that the theories of socialism were of little importance compared to the fictions of solidarity.

#3 I was an intellectual, and I rebelled against authority. I was also a case of Conquest’s law, as I most cared about and wanted to make my own was culture. I was right-wing, and I wished to conserve the great tradition of the masters and work for its survival.

#4 I fell in love with France, and this led to a change in the focus of my thinking from culture to politics. I began to understand what I value in the customs, institutions, and culture of Europe. I was sympathetic to the Soviet Union, whose difficulties were caused by capitalist encirclement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669352594

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Roger Scruton's How to be a Conservative

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I was born in the late 1940s, and raised in a lower middle-class household. My father was a trade unionist and a member of the Labour Party, who always wondered whether he had, in becoming a teacher in a primary school, betrayed his working-class origins.

#2

I had to learn how to live with my father, who was a socialist. I understood from him just how deeply class feeling had been engrained in the experience of his generation, and in the northern industrial communities from which he came. I learned that the theories of socialism were of little importance compared to the fictions of solidarity.

#3

I was an intellectual, and I rebelled against authority. I was also a case of Conquest’s law, as I most cared about and wanted to make my own was culture. I was right-wing, and I wished to conserve the great tradition of the masters and work for its survival.

#4

I fell in love with France, and this led to a change in the focus of my thinking from culture to politics. I began to understand what I value in the customs, institutions, and culture of Europe. I was sympathetic to the Soviet Union, whose difficulties were caused by capitalist encirclement.

#5

I began reading for the Bar in order to prepare for the future, and I was shocked by the state of the country in the late 1970s. It seemed as though Britain was ready to surrender all that it stood for, including its pride, its ideals of freedom, and its borders.

#6

When Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party in the 1980s, she was able to release the talent and enterprise that she believed still existed in British society.

#7

The idea of the state as a benevolent father figure who guides the collective assets of society