Cultural conservatism is described as the protection of the cultural heritage of a nation state, or of a culture not defined by state boundaries. It is sometimes associated with criticism of multiculturalism, and anti-immigration sentiment. Because their cultural preservationist objectives are in conflict with those of anti-racists, cultural conservatives are often accused of racism. Despite this, however, cultural conservatism can be more nuanced in its approach to minority languages and cultures; it is sometimes focused upon heritage language learning or threatened language revitalization, such as of the distinctive local dialect of French in Quebec, Acadian French, Canadian Gaelic, and the Mi'kmaq language in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, or the Irish language in Newfoundland. Other times cultural conservatism is more focused upon the preservation of an ethnic minority's endangered ancestral culture, such as those of Native Americans.
In the United States, cultural conservatism may imply a conservative position in the culture wars. Because cultural conservatism expresses the social dimension of conservatism according to the political compass theory, it is sometimes referred to as social conservatism. Instead, social conservatism describes conservative moral and social values, or traditionalist conservative stances on socio-cultural issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, in opposition to cultural liberalism (social liberalism in the United States). Meanwhile, nationalism also differs from cultural conservatism as it does not always focus upon a particular culture.
