Historian Jon Wiener has described social conservatism as historically the result of an appeal from "elitist preservationists" to lower-class workers to 'protect' wealth from immigration.
For example, former New South Wales Liberal Party leader and state premier, Dominic Perrottet, a conservative Catholic, despite having voted against legalising same-sex marriage in 2018 and opposing abortion, followed Labor leader Chris Minns' in supporting a 2023 state-wide ban on gay conversion therapy,[11] whilst also vowing to protect religious freedom and preaching.
Federal Coalition MPs who opposed same-sex marriage during the debate included former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison and many others.
The Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017 was tabled in the Senate and was subsequently passed in the House of Representatives, with just three votes against (excluding the members who abstained).
This led to his deposition as leader of the party (now called Canadian Alliance) in favor of social conservative Stockwell Day.
This was most recently exemplified on two occasions in 2012 when the current Conservative Party of Canada declared they had no intention to repeal same-sex marriage or abortion laws.
[16] Chiang Kai-shek, a former president of Republic of China, could be seen as a social conservative who was critical of liberal values and defended the union of Confucian traditions and modernism.
However, due to their interpretation of Islamic law also known as Shariah, they have some differences from social conservatism as understood in the nations of West Europe, North America and Oceania.
[citation needed] Hindu social conservatism in India in the twenty first century has developed into an influential movement, represented in the political arena by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.
Due to an inclination towards nativism, much of its platform is based on the belief that Islamic and Christian denominations in India are the result of occupations, and, therefore, these groups should be uprooted from the Indian subcontinent by converting their members back to Hinduism.
[citation needed] Social conservatism had an important place in Apartheid South Africa ruled by the National Party.
It is centered on the preservation of what adherents often call 'traditional' or 'family values', though the accepted aims of the movement often vary amongst the organisations it comprises, making it hard to generalise about ideological preferences.
Social conservatives are strongest in the South, where they are a mainstream political force with aspirations to translate those ideals using the party platform nationally.