Thanks to work by some of the fine people at the University of California - Berkeley, the origins of political conservatism are finally being probed:

“Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:

* Fear and aggression
* Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
* Uncertainty avoidance
* Need for cognitive closure
* Terror management”

> See “Researchers help define what makes a political conservative”