Without turning your comments section into a theory seminar, can we really talk about the elision of class politics in American left activist circles without acknowledging the dominance of postmodern (largely French) theory in American academia by, at latest, the late 20th century? Most of these guys reacted to May '68 and affluent post-war society by bitterly distancing themselves from the metanarrative of global class struggle and communism. They paid a high psychological wage for doing so, and it's reflected in the cynicism of their theories. American grad students (most without a previous grounding in lived class politics) encountered critical theory first, and class analysis second (if at all). Academics and cultural critics who pointed out the cravenness of all this were generally dismissed as some variant of -ist. I'm beginning to think that the critique that this is "overstating the influence" of obscure academic theories is related to the very evasiveness DeBoer criticizes in this left tendency rejecting all proffered labels for itself. There may be no such thing as the slippery slope fallacy in an affluent and highly technocratic society with an overproduction of elites.
'Woke' is, as mentioned in the article, is a phenomenon of the primarily Elite Academic schools, and the Corporate Boardrooms.
There is, thankfully, little to no version of the modern 'woke' cloddishness in the Bad Neighborhood. We've had 3 black teenagers killed in the last 3 years - all by other teens. The latest was last week.
We have tons of violent fights. No wypipo involved. To think that some white female with blue hair (or anyone for that matter) is going to come in and scream about 'whiteness' or 'systemic racism' is ridiculous. The College educated woke lecturer also stays away as the number of white republicans in charge is zero. The Grift Potential is in the negative.
We have bigger, much more serious fish to fry. No Kendi, no DiAngelo, no woke babble infiltrates the school district border. These people are never mentioned at staff development sessions or meetings.
It's nice because we have to work on real solutions, not words that might offend some coddled Ivy grad who thinks that history began in 2020.
I have been noodling on the notion that "wokeness" is a fundamentally neoliberal movement: the solution to social problems is *not* to change society (which would, of course, threaten elites), but rather to change individual thoughts and behaviors. That it creates a market opportunity for DEI consultants is just a happy add-on.
Without turning your comments section into a theory seminar, can we really talk about the elision of class politics in American left activist circles without acknowledging the dominance of postmodern (largely French) theory in American academia by, at latest, the late 20th century? Most of these guys reacted to May '68 and affluent post-war society by bitterly distancing themselves from the metanarrative of global class struggle and communism. They paid a high psychological wage for doing so, and it's reflected in the cynicism of their theories. American grad students (most without a previous grounding in lived class politics) encountered critical theory first, and class analysis second (if at all). Academics and cultural critics who pointed out the cravenness of all this were generally dismissed as some variant of -ist. I'm beginning to think that the critique that this is "overstating the influence" of obscure academic theories is related to the very evasiveness DeBoer criticizes in this left tendency rejecting all proffered labels for itself. There may be no such thing as the slippery slope fallacy in an affluent and highly technocratic society with an overproduction of elites.
'Woke' is, as mentioned in the article, is a phenomenon of the primarily Elite Academic schools, and the Corporate Boardrooms.
There is, thankfully, little to no version of the modern 'woke' cloddishness in the Bad Neighborhood. We've had 3 black teenagers killed in the last 3 years - all by other teens. The latest was last week.
We have tons of violent fights. No wypipo involved. To think that some white female with blue hair (or anyone for that matter) is going to come in and scream about 'whiteness' or 'systemic racism' is ridiculous. The College educated woke lecturer also stays away as the number of white republicans in charge is zero. The Grift Potential is in the negative.
We have bigger, much more serious fish to fry. No Kendi, no DiAngelo, no woke babble infiltrates the school district border. These people are never mentioned at staff development sessions or meetings.
It's nice because we have to work on real solutions, not words that might offend some coddled Ivy grad who thinks that history began in 2020.
Mentioned this in response to Freddie:
I have been noodling on the notion that "wokeness" is a fundamentally neoliberal movement: the solution to social problems is *not* to change society (which would, of course, threaten elites), but rather to change individual thoughts and behaviors. That it creates a market opportunity for DEI consultants is just a happy add-on.
"Woke" these days mostly means virtue signaling that won't raise taxes.