Although CSJ theory is popularly framed, particularly by the American right, as Marxist in origin this is a distraction. First, it runs counter to his class-based view, by dividing the working class. Second, it is mostly used as an instrument of power (in competition for the relatively scarce resource of status) by the petite bourgeoisie. The role of today’s academy is to create and build the petite bourgeoisie.
Corporations embrace the Great Awokening because it is designed to do nothing about the fundamental value relationship between capital and work.
In this way Wokeism is a tool of the capitalist establishment. And - despite people often thinking that it’s left wing - it is deeply conservative. As well as insanely dishonest and dangerous.
I confess to pedantry, but there is a key distinction between Marxist and Marxian thought. The Critical Frankfurt School types were Marxists who used Hegelian exercises in the manner of Marx to arrive at their set of conclusions, but they are not Marxist in the traditional class sense of the word. This distinction is another clever way the Critical Theory guys use words as jiu-jitsu to distract and disorient those who call them out on their bullshit. It's like trying to nail down Jello.
Indeed! A quite brilliant feature of the discourse is that it warps and swirls to disguise itself to appeal to different audiences. How such an insubstantial line of reasoning could have captured so many people is partly explained (among other ways of explaining it) by how it morphs to suit the moment and circumstance for each individual. No wonder it's also popular in the corporate world. Anything that discredits Marx's original observations has to be good for shareholders and the C-suite.
I still don't understand what is meant by "social justice". In a civilized society there are laws that protect the society that most people adhere to. If a person breaks a law then there is a consequence of either a fine, jail or prison. The consequences are an incentive for the society to keep the peace and safety of it's citizens. This is true justice. In a free society, how can an individual pursue their goals/dreams without such institutions in place that support law and order? If "wokeness" seeks to destroy and replace these institutions then what will replace it?
I think the term "Social Justice" makes more sense if we situate it as part of the Leftist (often but not always Marxist) movement that seems to have become a permanent part of Western societies since somewhere around the French Revolution.
Leftism in its various permutations has always been specifically anti-Liberal in the sense that it exists not just in opposition to movements of the Right, but also in opposition to liberal democracy, esp as that also involves some form of capitalism.
So under a liberal dispensation (which we've been blessed to live under), Justice usually involves some form of political or judicial decison handled via weighing evidence or some other open fact-finding process by either juries or elected representatives.
But in Leftism all forms of Justice are rephrased as "Social Justice" and all roads lead to the same place: a Vanguard intellectual class is appointed or seizes power as a ruling caste who enacts various forms of social engineering predicated on rectifying historical crimes or social imbalances. The Vanguard class really believes that they deserve to rule because they've done all the right reading and that their special understanding of Virtue will lead us to a Promised Land aka some form of "socialist liberation."
So "Social Justice" is just more sloganeering by our wannabe Leftist rulers, who believe they know what's best for the country and for all of us, and who are desperate to seize full power and bring America all the same joys and freedoms that were enjoyed in Soviet Russia and Maoist China.
So "social justice" sounds great to the uninformed or to the delusional. But, in fact, it is just another power grab to take away our freedoms since the "Vanguard" class or "elitists" of this mindset think they know what's best for all of us? I do know some people that have this mindset and they are some of the most angry and frustrated people that I know. Most of them have not achieved their full potential and sadly are pretty screwed up.
i think political and ideological mass movements have replaced religion for many people, and these ideologies (which are most dangerous when most Utopian and Manichaean) also replicate other aspects of religion: fundamentalist upsurges, public displays of atonement, Apocalyptic doom scenarios, hatred of dissent and hunting of heretics, and then leading the pack: people aspiring to be priests or just commissars or enforcers, and all sorts of sadists and opportunists seeing a new gullible flock to be fleeced or otherwise abused.
all this sadly just seems to be natural and eternal for humans and human societies...
Thanks for writing this. Having completed a PhD in the humanities in Canada in 2017, I saw this happen first hand. There's no way I could now get away with the pushback I gave incipient wokism ten or so years ago in my graduate seminars. But even though I managed to finish my doctorate, my questioning of woke orthodoxy ensured that an academic career was not in the cards.
Fantastic article! It's quite scary seeing the pervasive lunacy that's taken hold of institutions of higher learning, as they've been reduced to daycare centers for coddled brats.
Although CSJ theory is popularly framed, particularly by the American right, as Marxist in origin this is a distraction. First, it runs counter to his class-based view, by dividing the working class. Second, it is mostly used as an instrument of power (in competition for the relatively scarce resource of status) by the petite bourgeoisie. The role of today’s academy is to create and build the petite bourgeoisie.
Corporations embrace the Great Awokening because it is designed to do nothing about the fundamental value relationship between capital and work.
In this way Wokeism is a tool of the capitalist establishment. And - despite people often thinking that it’s left wing - it is deeply conservative. As well as insanely dishonest and dangerous.
I confess to pedantry, but there is a key distinction between Marxist and Marxian thought. The Critical Frankfurt School types were Marxists who used Hegelian exercises in the manner of Marx to arrive at their set of conclusions, but they are not Marxist in the traditional class sense of the word. This distinction is another clever way the Critical Theory guys use words as jiu-jitsu to distract and disorient those who call them out on their bullshit. It's like trying to nail down Jello.
Indeed! A quite brilliant feature of the discourse is that it warps and swirls to disguise itself to appeal to different audiences. How such an insubstantial line of reasoning could have captured so many people is partly explained (among other ways of explaining it) by how it morphs to suit the moment and circumstance for each individual. No wonder it's also popular in the corporate world. Anything that discredits Marx's original observations has to be good for shareholders and the C-suite.
I still don't understand what is meant by "social justice". In a civilized society there are laws that protect the society that most people adhere to. If a person breaks a law then there is a consequence of either a fine, jail or prison. The consequences are an incentive for the society to keep the peace and safety of it's citizens. This is true justice. In a free society, how can an individual pursue their goals/dreams without such institutions in place that support law and order? If "wokeness" seeks to destroy and replace these institutions then what will replace it?
I think the term "Social Justice" makes more sense if we situate it as part of the Leftist (often but not always Marxist) movement that seems to have become a permanent part of Western societies since somewhere around the French Revolution.
Leftism in its various permutations has always been specifically anti-Liberal in the sense that it exists not just in opposition to movements of the Right, but also in opposition to liberal democracy, esp as that also involves some form of capitalism.
So under a liberal dispensation (which we've been blessed to live under), Justice usually involves some form of political or judicial decison handled via weighing evidence or some other open fact-finding process by either juries or elected representatives.
But in Leftism all forms of Justice are rephrased as "Social Justice" and all roads lead to the same place: a Vanguard intellectual class is appointed or seizes power as a ruling caste who enacts various forms of social engineering predicated on rectifying historical crimes or social imbalances. The Vanguard class really believes that they deserve to rule because they've done all the right reading and that their special understanding of Virtue will lead us to a Promised Land aka some form of "socialist liberation."
So "Social Justice" is just more sloganeering by our wannabe Leftist rulers, who believe they know what's best for the country and for all of us, and who are desperate to seize full power and bring America all the same joys and freedoms that were enjoyed in Soviet Russia and Maoist China.
So "social justice" sounds great to the uninformed or to the delusional. But, in fact, it is just another power grab to take away our freedoms since the "Vanguard" class or "elitists" of this mindset think they know what's best for all of us? I do know some people that have this mindset and they are some of the most angry and frustrated people that I know. Most of them have not achieved their full potential and sadly are pretty screwed up.
i think political and ideological mass movements have replaced religion for many people, and these ideologies (which are most dangerous when most Utopian and Manichaean) also replicate other aspects of religion: fundamentalist upsurges, public displays of atonement, Apocalyptic doom scenarios, hatred of dissent and hunting of heretics, and then leading the pack: people aspiring to be priests or just commissars or enforcers, and all sorts of sadists and opportunists seeing a new gullible flock to be fleeced or otherwise abused.
all this sadly just seems to be natural and eternal for humans and human societies...
Thanks for writing this. Having completed a PhD in the humanities in Canada in 2017, I saw this happen first hand. There's no way I could now get away with the pushback I gave incipient wokism ten or so years ago in my graduate seminars. But even though I managed to finish my doctorate, my questioning of woke orthodoxy ensured that an academic career was not in the cards.
Fantastic article! It's quite scary seeing the pervasive lunacy that's taken hold of institutions of higher learning, as they've been reduced to daycare centers for coddled brats.
Clear explanation - thank you. [By all accounts wikipedia has been captured too?]