The truth about woke

Most will already have some idea of the problem commonly referred to as ‘wokeism’ or ‘cancel culture’. Because these terms are so slippery, it can be very hard to define them in a universally accepted way and therefore to criticise them. This is made especially hard when advocates of the theories behind this particular form of activism insist that the word ‘woke’ is a just pejorative used by right-wing bigots to prevent people from talking about social justice. Or they maintain that cancel culture is a myth created to shield those with privilege from accountability and to delegitimise the marginalised who call out bigotry.

Nevertheless, ‘wokeism’ refers to a real phenomenon with identifiable characteristics. It is not simply about opposition to racism or other bigotries. Equally, cancel culture refers to a real phenomenon that extends beyond heaping scorn on celebrities and other high-profile people on social media for something they’ve said or done. It affects many more people who have been bullied, pilloried, shamed or fired simply for expressing an unpopular idea or for asking the wrong question. We see manifestations of it daily that threaten fundamental rights and inhibit democratic processes. Rather than use these two separate but interrelated terms, I will refer to this overall phenomenon as ‘Critical Social Justice’.

The core tenets of Critical Social Justice are easily recognisable and distinguishable from other ethical frameworks. They rest on a belief in largely invisible systems of identity-based power into which everybody has been socialised. This simplistic belief rejects both the complexity of social reality and the individual’s agency to accept or reject bigoted ideas. This makes it different from most other ethical frameworks that oppose prejudice and discrimination.

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