The political far right has made a great deal of hay in the last decade out of the phenomenon of ‘woke capitalism.’ Of course, they rarely bother explaining what the term ‘woke capitalism’ even means, beyond vague gesturing toward corporate DEI programs. To get a sense of things, we have to turn to the left.

On the left, we hear more interesting questions about the relationship between racial justice progressive activism and woke capitalism. The original Black Lives Matter movement sparked some of these issues. But we hear it far more in the wake of the pandemic era 2020 resurgence.

In short, does woke capitalism co-opt racial justice movements? Or do racial justice activists simply promote ideas that woke capitalism likes?

Let’s take a moment to examine the contenders.

One side says that the world of corporate diversity co-opts the genuinely radical demands of true racial justice activists. We find this view expressed well, for instance, in the book Elite Capture by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. I also profiled an especially egregious case in an earlier post that fits this model quite well.

The other side thinks that racial justice progressivism actually aligns with woke capitalism by pushing class to the margins and placing race in the driver’s seat. They think woke capitalism has no problem with racial equality, so long as the class system remains in place. We often find this view in the pages of Jacobin magazine or the books of Adolph Reed Jr. And, of course, I’m on record arguing that an ‘anti-racist capitalism’ is at least theoretically possible.

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