This position is essentially conservative and hierarchical in its theory of society, although politically it may be liberal. Above all, it values the knowledge and cultural tradition of the West, for its own sake, and strives to conserve it. In particular it is concerned with the pure elitist culture of the educated middle and upper classes. Thus the position aims to conserve existing cultural traditions and the associated social structures. Underpinning these aims is the unquestioned assumption of a hierarchical, stratified society , the structure inherited from the past. This is seen to separare ‘gentle’ cultured persons from ‘common folk’. The cultured elite are those fitted to rule society, for the masses do not have the same finely balanced judgement. Society is seen primarily as the means of conserving and creating high culture, which provides the measure of its level of civilization.