From the late 1950s, Conservative research and policy thinkers underwent a conscious intellectual adjustment, which had profound implications for how the party conceived the relationship between politicians and the public during Edward Heath's period as Conservative leader after 1965. In response to contemporaneous debates regarding 'modernization', and as a result of their engagement with the emergent social sciences, a new generation of Conservatives tended to repudiate the party's traditional preference for idealist and organicist philosophical assumptions in favour of a rationalistic approach to political administration. Their preoccupation with economic management was concomitant of their loss of faith in the formative role of rhetorical and moral appeals in shaping public opinion. This article, by focusing on debates within the party's research and political apparatus-the Conservative Research Department, the Conservative Political Centre and Swinton College-will contend that, far from being the last gasp of a post-war consensual Conservatism, Heath's period as leader marked a relatively unique period in the party's history, in which the conception of the nature of political leadership held by those at the top of the party differed from the conception held by both their predecessors and successors.

中文翻译：

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“行动而不是言语”：保守党，公众舆论和“科学”政治，c.1945–70

从 1950 年代后期开始，保守党的研究和政策思想家进行了有意识的智力调整，这对 1965 年后爱德华·希思 (Edward Heath) 作为保守党领袖期间该党如何构想政客与公众之间的关系产生了深远的影响。 ’，并且由于他们参与了新兴的社会科学，新一代保守党倾向于否定该党对理想主义和有机主义哲学假设的传统偏好，转而支持理性主义的政治管理方法。他们对经济管理的全神贯注伴随着他们对修辞和道德诉求在塑造公众舆论方面的形成作用失去信心。本文，