[supercat]

Conservatism, the way I understand it, refers to the idea to keep the social order as it is, or if it changes, it happens gradually.

While the terms "radical", "liberal", "conservative", and "reactionary" generically refer to people who want a huge change, a significant change, minimal change, or else a change back to the way things were, the terms "liberal" and "conservative" have also come to describe specific target social conditions. The use of the terms for that purpose is in some ways unfortunate, since it tends to muddle their meanings, but I don't really know any non-pejorative alternatives.

[tacticalogic]

the terms "liberal" and "conservative" have also come to describe specific target social conditions.

In any given context they can be correctly applied in that manner. The problem is when that context isn't established up front and then maintained through the entire argument.