Abstract
An article that was published in ?The Economist' on the 26th of July 2003, deals with an ?upturn in conservatism' among young American people. Indeed, according to this article, more and more students support the republican ideology, and are in favor of US military interventions. However, simultaneously there is a fraction of the citizens who share a tolerant view point about moral issues like homosexual marriage. We may therefore wonder whether this upturn in conservatism can be observed among young people in France, which is presently involved in examining the different meanings of ?conservatism.' From the political point of view, conservatism is often combined with right-wing ideas. This political view point is inclusive of not all the right-wing ideas which are conservative. However it also includes ideas such as nationalism, order, the refusal of innovations, or even a will to return to the past and to traditional values. From a cultural point of view, conservatism highlights traditional values such as marriage (especially religious marriage), family life, religion, and is rather opposed to moral ?innovations', such as abortion or homosexuality. In a nutshell, a conservative person appraises the past and ignores the future and its associated privileges which are existing in all kinds of traditions (i.e. cultural, religious, and political) in a person's life. Is this trend influencing the youngsters in France and are they anxious to adopt this antique tradition? The truth is, we need to understand that the young people are accepting and getting more conservative in the present age. Further, the buzzing thought is the extent to which, this trend can be linked to the evolution of our society.
