What Is Wokism?

I was talking to a prominent philosopher at a conference, and he told me that he thought the idea of “wokism” was bullshit, and he didn’t even know what this supposed phenomenon of “wokism” was. A little later in the conversation, he suggested that wokism was no different from support for civil rights, which goes back at least to the 1960’s, and that there is nothing in particular that’s new here.

For that philosopher, and others like him, let’s try to explain wokism.

1. Examples

When you want to explain something, always start with examples. Robin DiAngelo, Ibram X. Kendi, AOC: these are examples of “woke” people. Woke people believe things like this:

1. Many forms of unjust group prejudice are (still) rampant in Western society, including: racism (esp. against blacks and Latinos), sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and Islamophobia. (Woke people are particularly concerned about the forms of prejudice just listed, much less so about other forms, e.g., prejudice in favor of good-looking people, or people who went to prestigious schools.)

2. This one of the most important problems, if not the most important problem in the world.

3. Biology plays essentially no role in explaining group differences in behavior, psychology, or cognition, particularly for the groups referred to in point (1).

4. Group differences in social outcomes (crime rates, socioeconomic status, drug use, educational attainment, etc.) are mainly or entirely due to the prejudice mentioned in (1).

5. Schools and businesses should practice affirmative action, e.g., give racial and gender preferences to ensure greater “diversity”.

6. People should also receive DEI trainings to teach them the truth of this ideology and how they can help combat prejudice.

7. All transwomen are literally women, just as much as cis women; similarly, all transmen are men. Anyone is whatever gender they say they are. Any other view is harmful bigotry.

8. Everybody should announce their pronouns prominently, e.g., in their email signatures, in their online bios.

9. The expression of offensive (to people with this ideology) social or political views is harmful, comparable to violence, and perhaps even itself a kind of violence.

10. Cancel culture: Because of this, offensive social or political views should be silenced, and the people with such views should be harmed in their personal lives, e.g., by losing their jobs.

11. It is important to be wary of committing “microaggressions”, such as asking people with an accent where they are from, or claiming that you don’t see