The
wikipedia definition looks pretty good to me, although I strongly disagree with the statement under the "Order" heading which reads:
[ QUOTE ]
Order
Conservatives typically limit innovation out of risk aversion. Change is by nature risky; it can potentially disrupt or even ruin the social order, which is the only existing guarantee that conservative values will survive.
[/ QUOTE ]
I would bet big $$$ that this part was written by a liberal who was trying his best to be objective and failing as usual.
Doing something "out of risk aversion" means doing something with negative EV in order to maximize expected utility. Conservatism is positive EV in the eyes of most conservatives so the above quote is both unfair and wrong IMO.