Why Wokeism Will Rule the World
The woke movement could be the next great U.S. cultural export — and it is going to do many other countries some real good.
“White Lotus” is more than an American cultural phenomenon. Photographer: Mario Perez/HBO
I am decidedly un-woke. As a professor of economics, I strongly favor a market-oriented approach. I have worked hard to defend the positions of non-woke right-wing and libertarian colleagues in academia. What’s more, I am on record as saying that wokeism is stupid and inflexible, and will state here and now that it is also boring and predictable.
And yet: I have a nagging sense that, among its opponents, wokeism is underrated. (Its proponents, meanwhile, tend to overrate it.) Consider this essay my attempt to explain why and how its enemies should learn to live with wokeism.1