Američka srednja klasa kao nosilac neokonzervativnih ideja u SAD
Conservatism is the dominant political theory in many capitalist countries of the West. In the U. S. A. the conservative wing of the Republican party was victorious in the presidental elections of 1980. Since then the neo-conservatives have held political power, supported by the widest section of the American society. In recent history there is no other example of such a wide coalition within the otherwise heterogeneous social stratum that the American middle class is. Neo- -conservatism has brought together, on the economic and political levels, their different sets of values but very similar economic interests. The coalition comprisses three segments of the American society the old middle class, the rich middle class, and the new middle class. The old middle class is recruited from the ranks of owners of small production firms, shops, or farms; the rich middle class is composed of industrialists who became rich trading in real estate or investing in oil industry and agriculture; and the new middle class is composed of industrial workers whose class status is dependent on education, occupation, and income. Structural changes in the American society have caused uncertainty to all the three segments of the middle class. In order to preserve their interests, all the three segments have resorted to neo-conservatism as the political expression of their vision of the American society-economically- morally, and politically. Their primary purpose is to provide opportunities of free enterprise on the basis of neo-liberalism, to establish the traditional moral order, and to restore the economic and military prestige both internally and internationally.