Wokeism

Extracted Attributes

• Origin

  African-American English

• Related Terms

  Woke-washing, woke capitalism

• Initial Meaning

  Awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination

• Associated Concepts

  Identity politics, social justice, white privilege, reparations for slavery

• Evolution of Meaning

  Broader awareness of social inequalities (sexism, LGBTQ+ rights)

• Usage by Some Leftists

  Criticism for interfering with working-class solidarity

• Definition (Dictionary.com)

  Promotion of liberal progressive ideology and policy as an expression of sensitivity to systemic injustices and prejudices

• Usage by Political Right/Centrists

  Pejorative, to disparage leftist/progressive movements as superficial and insincere performative activism

Timeline

• Term 'woke' used in African-American English to refer to awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1930-00-00

• New York Times article 'If You're Woke You Dig It' frames the word as an indicator of knowledge and insight. (Source: Web Search)

  1962-00-00

• Term 'woke' acquired political connotations. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1970-00-00

• Term 'woke' gained further popularity with the hashtag #staywoke. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2010-00-00

• The phrase 'stay woke' was popularized by Black Lives Matter activists during the Ferguson protests to raise awareness about police shootings of African Americans. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2014-00-00

• BET documentary titled 'Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement' was released. (Source: Web Search)

  2016-00-00

• The term 'woke' was added to the Oxford English Dictionary. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2017-00-00

• The term 'woke' began to be widely used sarcastically as a pejorative by the political right and some centrists. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2019-00-00

• A backlash to the 'woke movement' emerged, leading to state laws aimed at removing certain race-based information and ideas in education. (Source: Web Search)

  2021-00-00

• A broad public rejection of cultural issues grouped under 'Wokeism' was cited as a reason for Donald Trump's decisive election victory over Kamala Harris. (Source: Related Document)

  2024-00-00

Woke

Woke is an adjective derived from African-American English used since the 1930s or earlier to refer to awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination, often in the construction stay woke. The term acquired political connotations by the 1970s and gained further popularity in the 2010s with the hashtag #staywoke. Over time, woke came to be used to refer to a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism and denial of LGBTQ rights. Woke has also been used as shorthand for some ideas of the American Left involving identity politics and social justice, such as white privilege and reparations for slavery in the United States. During the 2014 Ferguson protests, the phrase stay woke was popularized by Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists seeking to raise awareness about police shootings of African Americans. After being used on Black Twitter, the term woke was increasingly adopted by white people to signal their support for progressive causes. The term became popular with millennials and members of Generation Z. As its use spread beyond the United States, woke was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017. Since 2019, the term has been widely used sarcastically as a pejorative by the political right and some centrists, to disparage leftist and progressive movements as superficial and insincere performative activism. In particular, it has been used to denigrate diversity, equity, and inclusion. Some leftists criticize wokeness as interfering with working class solidarity. The terms woke-washing and woke capitalism later emerged to criticize businesses and brands who use politically progressive messaging for financial gain.

Web Search Results

• WOKEISM Definition & Meaning

  Wokeism definition: promotion of liberal progressive ideology and policy as an expression of sensitivity to systemic injustices and prejudices.

• Woke

  | Related | * 2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States * 2020–2023 United States racial unrest * list of incidents * ACAB * Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence * Black Lives Matter Plaza * Black maternal mortality in the United States * Criminal stereotype of African Americans * Defund the police * Driving while black * Running while Black * shopping while black * Ferguson effect * George Floyd Square * Hands up, don't shoot * I can't breathe * National anthem protests * Native Lives Matter * No justice, no peace * Oklahoma House Bill 1674 "Oklahoma House Bill 1674 (2021)") * Police abolition movement * 2021 Minneapolis Question 2 * Police accountability * blue wall of silence * gypsy cops * police perjury * qualified immunity * Police brutality * militarization * pain compliance * use of deadly force * use of torture * Police misconduct * false arrest * racial profiling * ticket quota * Racial bias in criminal news * Rest in power * Save the Boards * Taking the knee * _Terry_ stop * The talk "The talk (racism in the United States)") * Woke |

• The Woke Movement and Backlash - Free Speech Center - MTSU

  The Woke Movement and Backlash | The First Amendment Encyclopedia Home » Articles » Topic » Issues » Issues Related to Speech, Press, Assembly, or Petition » The Woke Movement and Backlash A backlash to the "woke movement" began to emerge in 2021, with state laws to remove certain race-based information and ideas in education. In 1962, a New York Times article on Black slang was headlined “If You’re Woke You Dig It,” framing the word as an indicator of knowledge and insight. A 2016 documentary on BET was titled “Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement.”

• The Philosophical Roots of Wokeism

  Our will to power, unlimited by any constraint provided by objective value, is analogous to the power of the voluntaristic God. And all of this comes to full expression in Sartre’s existentialism, according to which an individual in his freedom has a godlike mastery over good and evil. Catholic Social Teaching, it seems to me, stands athwart the value-generating self. Finally, Catholic Social Teaching decidedly does not hold to the primacy of power as the supreme value in the quasi-voluntarist way. If we want to engage wokeism in an intellectually serious way—and, mind you, the theorists of the movement do not want you to do that, but rather want to keep the discussion on emotional grounds—it’s important for us to understand not only where it came from, but also how strongly Catholic Social Teaching stands athwart it.

• Here's what 'woke' means and how to respond to it

  But this example is also useful because it’s fairly typical of cases where someone attempts a “woke intervention” and it’s rejected — someone follows a practice that is common in their community, a “woke” intervenor calls it out, and the person responds not with an apology or even a question, but with outright dismissal. They boil down to the following three claims about the targeted practice that justify the woke intervention: However, once we recognize what’s at stake, to dismiss something as woke is a refusal to even consider the possibility that the targeted practice might be offensive, premised on false or inaccurate claims or discriminatory or harmful.