The term woke refers to a high awareness of social injustices, particularly related to racism and systemic inequality. However, it is not only about mere awareness. Woke is also an ongoing commitment to recognizing and addressing oppression, often linked to progressive activism and movements for racial and social justice (Merriam-Webster, 2023). Being a woke individual means acknowledging injustice on the one hand, but most importantly, actively challenging societal norms and structures that maintain discrimination on the other (Hong, 2020). While it started as a label among individuals who advocated for social justice, woke has also been adopted as a pejorative word by critics of the movement, arguing that what it represents is dogmatism and exaggerations in the name of political correctness (Cammaerts, 2022; Oxford English Dictionary, 2023).
Framing & Perspectives
Historically, woke originated in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), as well as its first appearance in pop culture, where it was found in Lead Belly’s 1938 song “Scottsboro Boys” as a warning to Black people to remain alert to racial threats (Cammaerts, 2022). In 1962, William Melvin Kelley’s article “If You’re Woke You Dig It” in the New York Times gave the term further recognition while criticizing the appropriation of Black slang by white cultures (Bardes, 2023). Woke took its more modern political meaning and use during the Black Lives Matter movement, particularly after the 2014 Ferguson protests, when the hashtag #StayWoke became a widely used slogan against racial injustice and police violence (Romano, 2020). Over time, the term expanded, and beyond racial issues, it included gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, environmental justice, and other progressive causes, setting its exact place in contemporary activism (Cammaerts, 2022).
Relevance
In recent years, the term has sparked a lot of conflict and polarization. Supporters view it as a granted, obvious, and essential framework to address systemic oppression of any kind. At the same time, “the woke agenda” is used as an overall set of excessive demands that are against any traditional, honored, often religious-related value by the opponents. The latter dismiss progressive policies as excessive or authoritarian (Madigan, 2023). Right-wing politicians and public figures weaponize woke rhetoric often as a threat to older authentic values and free speech (Madigan, 2023; Oxford English Dictionary, 2023), leading to political consequences. For example, Florida’s counter-movement “Stop WOKE Act,” aims to restrict discussions on systemic racism and inequalities in education (Madigan, 2023). Furthermore, most corporations, media, or industries that adopt the “woke agenda” are accused of performative wokeness because they promote social justice as part of branding and communication purposes instead of meaningful change (Nair, 2019; Vis et al., 2020). As a result, woke is currently not a term of empowerment, but rather a battleground in the culture wars, reflecting deep societal divisions over identity, justice, and the limits of activism.
Keywords: Social And Racial Justice, Systemic Oppression, Black Lives Matter, Activism, Political Polarization, Cancel Culture, Neoliberal Branding, Woke Capitalism
Connected terms: Ableism, Body Liberation, Reproductive Rights, Bodily Autonomy, Neurotypical (Neuromajority), Queer Theory, Ethnocentrism, Linguistic Imperialism, Racialized Beauty Standards, Stereotype Threat
References
Bardes, A. S. (2023). “I’m Kind of Woke”: A Teacher Action Research Study of a Social Justice Literature Course in a Privileged Community [Doctoral dissertation, The State University of New Jersey].
Cammaerts, B. (2022). The abnormalisation of social justice: The ‘anti-woke culture war’ discourse in the UK. Discourse & Society, 33(6), 730-743. https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265221095407
Hong, C. P. (2020). Minor feelings: An Asian American reckoning. One World.
Madigan, T. (2023). Inverted totems: on the significance of “woke” in the culture wars. Religions, 14(11), 1337. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111337
Merriam Webster. (n.d.) Woke. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/woke
Nair, Y. (2019). Believe in Something: Corporate wokeness is now big business. The Baffler, 44, 18–23. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26639720
Romano, A. (2020, October 9). A history of “wokeness”: Stay woke: How a Black activist watchword got co-opted in the culture war. Vox. https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy
Oxford English Dictionary. Wokeism, n. In Oed.com Dictionary. From https://www.oed.com/dictionary/wokeism_n
Vis, F., Faulkner, S., Noble, S. U., & Guy, H. (2020). When Twitter got# woke: Black Lives Matter, DeRay McKesson, Twitter, and the appropriation of the aesthetics of protest. The aesthetics of global protest, 247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9789048544509-016
