The term “woke” might be modern, but woke movements have been going on throughout history. And while an “awokening” is meant to further equality among systemically marginalized groups, they often can exacerbate existing social inequalities. 

Musa al-Gharbi is a sociology and assistant professor of communication and journalism at Stony Brook University. His book, We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite, examines how professionals in the so-called symbolic capitalism space like media, nonprofits, and education have gained elite status through woke culture, and in turn, benefit from some of the inequalities they are morally aligned against. 

Musa and Greg discuss the origins of woke movements throughout history including what factors in society can lead to “awokenings,” how symbolic capitalists have become the new elite, the role of cultural capital in today’s world, and why the elimination of DEI programs and pushback against woke culture can sometimes accelerate a new “awokening.”  

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Episode Quotes:

Can we be committed to seeking social justice and elite status at the same time?

12:52: It’s our desire to be an elite that often ends up winning out and kind of transforming how we pursue these social justice goals, so that we mostly try to pursue them in ways that don't cost anything for us, risk anything for us, require us to change anything about our lifestyles and our aspirations, and the aspirations of our children, and all of that stuff. And so that mostly pushes us into pursuing these social justice goals in largely symbolic ways, on the one hand. And on the other hand, it often leads us to expropriate blame to other people, who often benefit far less from the system than we do, and exert a lot less influence over institutions and so on than we do.

Has diversity become a status symbol instead of a value?

46:01: Diversity is great as long as its fellow affluent, highly educated people. But God forbid, if they want to build affordable housing in your neighborhood, that's a hard no.

On competition over status

18:41: One of the things that's interesting about competitions over status and cultural capital and things like this is that status—one—it’s actually more of a zero-sum competition.

So, for wealth, it's possible for everyone in a society to have a decent amount of wealth or a high amount of wealth. But for status, that's not the case. A situation where everyone had a high amount of status—the same status—would be a situation where nobody had any status. Status is more zero-sum. You actually can't give more attention, more time, more deference, and whatever to one person without actually taking some from someone else, because our attention is finite, et cetera, et cetera. And so status is actually more of a zero-sum competition.

Show Links:

Recommended Resources:

• Pierre Bourdieu
• Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern by Bruno Latour 
• Andrew Abbott
• Social Gospel movement..
• Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at Stony Brook University
• Professional Website
• Professional Profile on LinkedIn

His Work:

• We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite