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

We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite This book explores the disconnect between the ideals of the Great Awokening and the realities of fixing structural inequality. It examines how a new elite has risen to prominence, establishing a social order that is fundamentally premised on exclusion, exploitation, and condescension, despite its members' claims to uplift the marginalized and disadvantaged. The book sheds light on the tensions within this new elite, illustrating how they explain various trends, including the Great Awokening, growing political polarization, and social inequality. It draws on the author's previous work, analyzing the rise of Trump, the crisis of expertise, and the tensions over 'identity politics'. The book reveals how symbolic analysts, who have not attained their social position through material assets but through the traffic of symbols and rhetoric, deploy wokeness as a weapon in this conflict, often at the expense of those who are actually marginalized and disadvantaged. By examining the ways in which the Americans who produce and consume content on antiracism, socialism, feminism, and other issues are also the primary beneficiaries of gendered, racialized, and other forms of inequality, the book provides a nuanced understanding of the complex social and cultural conflict at play.