What Was “Woke”?

Abstract

Review of Musa al-Gharbi. 2024. We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite. Princeton University Press.

In his recent book, We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite, sociologist Musa al-Gharbi looks back at what was “woke”. Not so much to define the term, but to use it as an entry point to analyze how knowledge-economy professionals mobilize social-justice discourse to justify, strengthen, and mystify their elite positions: “Wokeness does not seem to be associated with egalitarian behaviors in any meaningful sense. Instead, ‘social justice’ discourse seems to be mobilized by contemporary elites to help legitimize and obscure inequalities, to signal and reinforce their elite status, or to tear down rivals—often at the expense of those who are genuinely vulnerable, marginalized, and disadvantaged in society” (296). This review considers the value of al-Gharbi’s analysis of the contradictions of “woke” statements and “critique” more broadly, at a moment when the United States—in terms of civil liberties and democratic principles—is decisively turning illiberal.