What Is Conservatism? Is It a Political Ideology, a Social Movement GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

What is conservatism? Is it a political ideology, a social movement, a general philosophical stance toward the world? Generally, scholars of the Right have understood conservatism as a social and political movement that gained momentum during the post–World War II period. It began among a small number of committed activists and intellectuals, and ultimately managed to win a mass following and a great deal of influence over the Republican party. While its ideology (like all political world views) was not systematic or logically coherent on every count, its central concerns included anticommunism, libertarianism, a laissez-faire approach to economics, opposition to the civil rights movement, and commitment to traditional sexual norms. It is not surprising, therefore, that much of the scholarly literature on conservatism has emphasized the role of political organizations and activist groups in building a network of people devoted to achieving a broad rollback of liberalism.

While these works emphasize the political strategies of the movement in its early years, scholars have also devoted attention to the communities that helped nurture conservatism. Lisa McGirr's study of Orange County, California, is perhaps the most influential of these analyses of the “dynamic social base” that propelled the movement and gave it its endurance and strength. Lisa argued that conservatism thrived throughout the 1950s, the 1960s, and into the 1970s among affluent suburbanites, the anticommunists, whose jobs were closely tied to the Cold War defense industry. Anticommunism, in her view, was able to unify a variety of different political concerns, bringing together antistatists, advocates of a free market, and believers in traditional morality. These anticommunist activists were able to capitalize on the era's discomfort about challenges to sexual norms and the racial hierarchy. Ultimately, they made political alliances with conservative Christian groups.

Consequently, the conservatism movement grew into a big force as post World War 2 as it brought together three powerful and partially contradictory intellectual currents that previously had largely been independent of each other: libertarianism, traditionalism, and anticommunism. Even though each of this particular strain of thought had predecessors earlier in the twentieth (and even nineteenth) century, they were joined in their distinctive formulation for the first time in history. This fusion of different, competing, and not easily reconciled schools of thought led to the creation of a coherent modern Right – the second generation of Conservatives who embraced these schools of thought.

“What is conservatism? Is It a political ideology, a social movement ”- is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Nominees must have a firm understanding of English GMAT reading comprehension. There are 6 comprehension questions in this GMAT Reading Comprehension section. GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are conducted to examine candidates' skills to decipher, interpret, and utilize knowledge or ideas. Candidates can actively prepare by answering GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solutions and Explanation

1. According to the passage, Conservatism began when:

1. A small group of committed individual got together and from there it spread to different parts of the country.
2. General discontent against liberalism gave rise to Conservatist movement different parts of the country.
3. The growing rage against communism combined various forces at the end of the World War 2 era that grew into a movement.
4. The threat of rise of lower and middle classes and the reduction in funding for the cold war defense industry brought together the upper classes who later became the Conservatists.
5. A group of republicans who were concerned with the growing power of democratic party started the movement to garner more populist support.

2. What does the author most likely mean when he says, “It is not surprising… a broad rollback of liberalism.”? (Para 1, last sentence)

1. Since Conservatism had no single central theme, its growth is governed by how political organizations came together under a single umbrella, and that is what is researched.
2. Political organizations and activist groups played a larger role in the spread of Conservatist movement than they did in the spread of most other similar movements in the country.
3. While researching most political movements, Scholars and researchers do not generally focus on the role of political organizations and activist groups.
4. Conservatism unlike most other political movements did not have a single strong leader, hence it made sense to research groups and political organizations that advocated the key causes of Conservatism to understand the reasons behind its growth.
5. Given the diverse and at times incoherent concerns of conservatism, it was fascinating to study how various groups and organizations resolved their differences and brought the movement together.

3. What attributes of “dynamic social base” in Orange county, California can be inferred from Lisa McGirr's study?

1. This dynamic social base started the Conservatist movement and the movement spread from there.
2. This dynamic social base supported capitalism and voted for an open trade policy with the world.
3. The people comprising the dynamic social base were politically influential, especially with the Republican Party.
4. This group included people of different concerns, antistats, people who advocated free markets and those who believed in traditional moral values.
5. This group might not have been deeply religious but did not hesitate to associate with any church faction in any form.

4. What does the author imply in the last paragraph when he states “Even though each of the particular stream of thought had… for the first time in history.”?

1. Each of the currents - libertarianism, traditionalism, and anticommunism- had long existed independently in the past but were never joined in such a manner ever before.
2. Each of these currents - libertarianism, traditionalism, and anticommunism- existed independently in distinct geographic areas in the past.
3. None of the currents - libertarianism, traditionalism, and anticommunism-were as powerful in the 19th/20th century as they were in the post-World War 2 era.
4. The predecessors of the currents - libertarianism, traditionalism, and anticommunism- possessed a more rigid thought process that did not allow the strains of these currents to join together and form a large movement.
5. Never in the history had these currents been large enough to have independently covered the entire country on their own.

5. What is the author’s main purpose in writing the passage?

1. Describe Conservatism and discuss its rise.
2. Detail the conditions in the post-World War 2 era that led to the rise of conservatism.
3. Summarize the key points on research on conservatism.
4. Trace the rise of Conservatism in Orange county as described in Lisa McGirr’s study.
5. Illustrate through an example, how incoherent groups can be brought together to form a National movement.

6. The author mentions “Orange County”, California to:

1. Illustrate by example how conservatism was propelled and nurtured in several small communities.
2. Highlight the constituent strains of conservatism that may have been incoherent.
3. Describe how common interests in tight knit communities addressed the early clashes among the non-coherent strains of conservatism.
4. Demonstrate by example, a community that was extremely unfriendly to the movement overcame its cultural bias to become one of the stronger advocates of the movement.
5. Prove that conservatism would have become a national movement with or without the support of such small communities.

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