Woke Ideology

Nature

Divisive force contributing to breakdown of civil discourse and societal decay

Modern Usage

Pejorative political term, often used as a term of abuse against progressive practices and values

Broader Context

Linked to the 'Suicide of the West' theme

Original Meaning

Being aware of society and speaking up for needed change or against perceived injustice

Associated Concepts

Political correctness, cancel culture, critical race theory

Perceived Promotion

By institutions like teachers' unions

Historical Usage in UK

Barely known before the Black Lives Matter movement

Historical Usage in US

Used throughout the early 2000s

Perceived Societal Impact

Viewed as a societal threat, with ideas spread through mass entertainment and educational institutions

Perceived Effect on Political Discourse

Demonization of political figures like Donald Trump

Typically, “wokeness” and “woke ideology” are terms of abuse, used against a variety of practices that, despite their diversity, have a similar character. Often, what is dismissed as “woke” is a new practice that is recommended, requested, enacted or enforced as a replacement for an old one. These practices range from changing the names of streets, institutions and buildings to determining who reads to pre-school children in libraries and altering the words we use in polite conversation. [...] Racism Antisemitism Conservatives political correctness Political polarization Progressives Listen to this article Woke ### Want to write? Write an article and join a growing community of more than 210,900 academics and researchers from 5,305 institutions. Register now [...] When a practice is identified as “woke,” there is an implication that the non-woke practice is better or at least equally good. Thus the dismissal of something as “woke” is an endorsement of some alternative. If we stop there, all we will see is a power struggle between progressive and conservative values. To dig deeper, I am going to share a particular case of calling out, or language policing, as an example of wokeness.

Despite people labelled woke being viewed as weak and trivial, their ideology was simultaneously viewed as a societal threat. Interestingly, people citing a woke agenda did so through the prism of sociocultural vs. political power. Its ideas were not replicated through consensus and the electoral system but through mass entertainment and educational institutions, including schools and universities. This conjecture resembles cultural Marxism conspiracies: an apparently intentional subversion of [...] This positioning is observable through the press focus on activism in the top higher education institutions: “Our most elite universities have been at the forefront of promoting woke ideas” (Sunday Express). Wokeness is thus depicted as a sanctimonious trait common to a specific subsection of society as much as a set of concrete aims or values. On Twitter, being woke is portrayed as snobby and judgemental: “Woke ideologies are middle-class weapons used against the working class.” Likewise, in [...] The term was often included in speech marks, including in comment pieces or where it was part of a longer quotation, e.g. “Eric Kauffman has complained: ‘The growing challenge from a ‘woke’ ideology that values emotional safety over academic freedom is gaining institutional traction in academia and beyond’” (Independent). This presentation distances the author/speaker from the term, indicating that it is not one they endorse. Among conservative outlets, which account for most of the UK press,

It evolved into an all-encompassing term to describe leftist political ideology, used as a “shorthand for people on the left” to signal progressiveness, but weaponised by those on the right as a “sneering, jeering dismissive term” to denigrate those who did not agree with their beliefs, said Mr Thorne. Recommended Bill Burr’s controversial SNL monologue divides viewers [...] The word “woke” may have previously been a convenient, single-word summation to encompass ideologies centred around social justice for people on the political left. But for those on the right, it was “very exotic, a short sharp word… that sounds quite percussive and almost shocking when you don’t know what it means”, said Mr Thorne. [...] The word “woke” is difficult to get away from in the media and popular culture nowadays, but before the Black Lives Matter movement, it was barely known in the UK despite having been used in the US throughout the early 2000s. “Woke” is currently used by the political left to refer to progressiveness and social justice, while those on the political right have weaponised it as a way to denigrate those who disagree with their beliefs.

“Woke” refers to being aware of the society around you and speaking up for needed change or against perceived injustice. The word suggests someone who has been oblivious to social issues, but then awakens to see the world differently. Tools to effect change would include the First Amendment freedoms of speech,press, petition and assembly. [...] While “woke” has origins in social awareness, in recent years it has also been adopted as a pejorative political term, often used in the same vein as “cancel culture” and “political correctness.” [...] Much of this was fueled by a political backlash from conservatives who decried “wokeness” in connection with the teaching of critical race theory, an academic construct positing that racism in the United States has been reinforced over time by society’s institutions. Teaching of the theory is typically limited to graduate programs on college campuses, but it became the linchpin for state legislative efforts to bar the discussion of race and racism in America’s public schools.