Introduction: conservative thinking and modernity

Abstract

This special brings together works that, from different perspectives, seek to discuss aspects related to conservative phenomena that occurred in the 20th century, that is, phenomena that are linked “to the intention of keeping intact, of conserving, therefore, of rejecting the new and the appeal to change, seen as risks to the instituted order ”(Silva, 2010, p. 53). Certainly, this delimitation is fluid and not very precise, as these phenomena are plural and multiform and, mainly, they are characterized by practices that often engender ideas and representations that are strongly rooted in different societies. On the other hand, although some texts deal with themes related to the first half of the 20th century, it is clear that they all work with phenomena that, although chronologically distant, express problems of the “present time”, that is, of a time marked by permanences and continuities of phenomena of the recent past.