Woke capitalism
Woke capitalism is a term coined by columnist Ross Douthat in an article for The New York Times. By the mid-2010s, language associated with "wokeness" had entered the mainstream media and was being used for marketing.
Definition
According to The Economist, examples of "woke capitalism" include advertising campaigns designed to appeal to millennials, who often hold more socially liberal views than earlier generations. These campaigns were often perceived by customers as insincere and inauthentic and provoked backlashes. In 2020, cultural scientists Akane Kanai and Rosalind Gill described "woke capitalism" as the dramatically intensifying trend to include historically marginalized groups (primarily non-Asian minorities) as mascots in advertisement with a message of empowerment to signal progressive values. This, in turn, creates a new idea of social justice.
The term is usually used, sometimes as a pejorative, for "woke" for-profit individuals and organizations supporting socially progressive views. Notably, some of these organizations that brand themselves as non-profit are often claimed to have possible for-profit motives, with two argued examples being the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF).
Argued motives for woke capitalism
There are often various motives for such support, including (but not limited to), receiving increased donations and state funding for groups involved in activities such as those associated with refugees and anti-racism.
- As part of advertising and brand image.
- As in effect extortion money, hoping to by giving money in support of some "woke" cause to avoid being targeted by the "woke".
- In order to reduce or stagnate wages by increasing wage competition due to the mass immigration.
- In order to divide employees by increasing the diversity and the ethnic heterogeneity of the employees.
- More generally diverting attention from economic and other traditionally problematic issues (see the article on Anti-globalization movement for more).
- SJW convergence; ie, the owners or managers may promote politically correct views and ideologies for reasons other than profit. They may either believe that political correctness is self-evidently correct and not open for interpretation, or promote such views as a form of "virtue signalling" beneficial for themselves, even if they covertly view the political correctness as harmful for their organization and society more generally.
- In order to support special interests, such as ethnic networking or minority groups believing mass immigration is beneficial for the own group. Managers may feel they have lower positions than they are entitled to and believe that this is due to some form of discrimination.
See also
- Davos Man
- Foreign aid - On sometimes for-profit organizations profiting from supposedly humanitarian foreign aid.
- Globalization
- Great Awokening
- New World Order (conspiracy theory)
- Non-governmental organization - On issues such as very high salaries for the top management in supposedly humanitarian organizations.
- Racial equity audit
- Wokeness
- Woke supremacy
