To gain a deep appreciation of many concepts relating to woke, it is helpful to understand that many of these have postmodernist foundations.
Evolving from the mid 20th century firstly in art, then literature, philosophy, social and political theories, culture, architecture, decor and more. Typically postmodernism is described as resisting norms and conformity to any categorization and classification, preferring ambiguity, irony, and skepticism.
Postmodernism is obscure and therefore hard to define and clearly understand, which is inherited by many of the concepts founded on it. This is not a bug (error); this is a feature. Many woke concepts leverage postmodernism’s skepticism of metanarratives (grand theories like fascism and communism), but also enlightenment stalwarts of logic, reason, and objective truths supported by clarity of categorizations and language. Language is key here.
So in the case of woke, there is a strong focus on language (spoken, written, visual, etc), and how power is established and maintained through language, or more specifically discourse (how we speak about people or things, particularly from positions of authority).
This is an extremely simplified overview of postmodernism, but it does hint at how it leads to the woke focus on discourse. This is why each word is picked apart, and inspected for meaning.
Some related woke concepts and theories:
- Postcolonial Theory
- Queer Theory
- Intersectionality
- Standpoint Theory
- Identity Politics
- Cancel Culture
Advocates might say
- Removes hierarchical authoritative power, particularly those upheld by discourse
- Provides alternative viewpoint, particularly for marginalized communities
Critics might say
- Is not coherent or even consistent with itself
- Does not support logic, reason, and the scientific method
- Unnecessarily cynical
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