Wokeism: The New Civil Religion of the Ruling Class
How Identity Politics and Social Justice Serve the Interests of Capitalism and the Managerial Elite
Wokeism, as a concept, is one of the most complex and controversial ideologies to emerge from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It’s simultaneously a cultural phenomenon, an ethical framework, a political force, and, more insidiously, a self-legitimating superstructure for today’s ruling class. The term itself has undergone an interesting transformation—once a slang term within Black communities to signify awareness of racial and social injustice, it has since been weaponized both by its adherents and opponents. In the process, it has mutated into something far more powerful and pervasive: a system of belief that permeates modern culture, politics, and economics, underpinned by a set of idealistic assumptions about humanity, society, and morality.
But what is wokeism, really? What drives it? And more importantly, how does it serve the interests of the elite while masquerading as a populist social justice movement?
To start, it’s crucial to understand that wokeism is less about the specific causes it champions—be it racial justice, gender identity, environmentalism, or any other progressive issue—and more about its underlying worldview. This worldview, in a sense, is an attempt to impose a new kind of moral order, one that purports to correct centuries of historical wrongs but ends up reinforcing many of the same power structures it claims to challenge.
The Core Tenets of Wokeism
At its core, wokeism can be broken down into several key ideas that, taken together, form its ideological backbone. These include:
Identity-Based Morality: Wokeism views racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of out-group discrimination as the ultimate evils. Identity becomes the primary axis around which morality revolves. The concept of "privilege" is central here—those with privileged identities (white, male, straight, cisgender, etc.) are seen as inherently oppressive, while those with marginalized identities are seen as inherently virtuous. This creates a dichotomous view of the world where individuals are either oppressors or oppressed, often regardless of their personal actions or circumstances.
Environmentalism as Animism: Wokeism extends its moral framework beyond human beings to include animals, plants, and ecosystems. In this sense, it reflects a kind of modern animism or pantheism, where non-human life forms are imbued with intrinsic moral worth equal to that of humans. This is most evident in the radical environmentalist movements within woke culture, which often call for drastic measures to protect the environment, sometimes at the expense of human welfare.
Health and Safety Above All: One of the more insidious aspects of wokeism is its fetishization of "health" and "safety." These concepts have been weaponized to justify the curtailment of civil liberties and the expansion of the managerial state. For example, speech that is deemed "harmful" is increasingly restricted in the name of psychological safety, and public health has been used as a pretext for draconian state intervention, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under this framework, almost any action can be justified if it is framed as protecting the health or safety of a vulnerable group.
The Rejection of Enlightenment Values: Wokeism is fundamentally anti-Enlightenment in its approach to knowledge and reason. Traditional civil liberties such as freedom of speech, due process, and freedom of religion are seen as secondary to the principles of social justice. In the woke framework, these liberties are often viewed as tools of oppression, wielded by privileged groups to maintain their power. Reason and science, too, are subordinated to social justice concerns—objective truths are dismissed as "constructs" of white, male-dominated societies, while lived experiences and subjective feelings are elevated as the most authentic form of knowledge.
Technocratic Managerialism: Wokeism, like many modern ideologies, embraces the concept of the "expert." It elevates technocracy and managerialism as the ideal form of governance, where policy decisions are made not through democratic debate or public discourse but by a class of educated elites who are presumed to know what’s best for society. This is particularly evident in the way woke ideology has infiltrated institutions like universities, corporations, and government agencies, where a new class of managers—steeped in the language of diversity, equity, and inclusion—now holds sway.
The Deification of Progress: Perhaps the most overarching theme of wokeism is its deification of "progress." Like earlier utopian ideologies, wokeism posits that human society is on a linear path toward greater enlightenment and moral purity, and that it is the duty of every right-thinking person to contribute to this march of progress. This is often framed in universalist terms, with woke activists claiming to fight for the betterment of all humanity, even as their efforts often serve to entrench the power of a globalized, neoliberal elite.
Wokeism as a Tool of the Ruling Class
One of the most interesting aspects of wokeism is the way it serves the interests of today’s ruling class, particularly the ascendant sectors of digital capitalism and the managerial elite. While woke activists often claim to fight against oppression and inequality, their efforts frequently align with the interests of large corporations, government agencies, and the ultra-wealthy. This is not a coincidence—wokeism, in its current form, is a useful tool for the ruling class to maintain its power while deflecting attention away from deeper structural inequalities.
This is most evident in the way wokeism has been embraced by corporate America. Companies like Amazon, Google, and Nike have all enthusiastically adopted the language of wokeism, pushing for diversity and inclusion initiatives while continuing to exploit workers, evade taxes, and consolidate their monopolistic power. The reason for this is simple: wokeism, as an ideology, focuses on identity-based issues rather than class-based ones. By championing diversity and inclusion, corporations can present themselves as socially responsible while distracting from their role in perpetuating economic inequality and labor exploitation.
In this sense, wokeism functions as a kind of ideological smoke screen. It allows the ruling class to co-opt the language of social justice while continuing to uphold a deeply unequal economic system. This is why wokeism has found such a receptive audience in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and the media industry—sectors of the economy that are dominated by wealthy elites who benefit from the status quo but are eager to present themselves as progressive and forward-thinking.
Moreover, wokeism serves to divide the working class by encouraging people to focus on identity-based grievances rather than on their shared material interests. This is not to say that issues of race, gender, and sexuality are unimportant—far from it. But when these issues are elevated above all others, they serve to distract from the more fundamental question of class inequality. Wokeism, in this sense, is a form of false consciousness, one that directs the anger and frustration of marginalized groups away from the true sources of their oppression—capitalism and the state—and toward abstract, identity-based grievances that are easily co-opted by the ruling class.
Wokeism and the New Managerial Class
Another key component of wokeism is its close relationship with the new managerial class—the professional elites who run the institutions of government, academia, and corporate America. This class, which has grown in power and influence over the past several decades, is heavily invested in the maintenance of the current system, which provides them with both material benefits and social status.
For the managerial class, wokeism offers a convenient framework for legitimizing their power. By positioning themselves as the enlightened defenders of social justice, they can justify their control over key institutions while dismissing their critics as reactionaries or bigots. This is particularly evident in the way universities and corporations have embraced woke ideology, with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) departments becoming a ubiquitous feature of institutional life.
These DEI departments, staffed by a new class of bureaucrats and "experts," are responsible for policing speech, enforcing ideological conformity, and ensuring that the values of wokeism are upheld throughout the organization. In practice, this often means suppressing dissent, punishing those who deviate from the orthodoxy, and creating an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship. The result is a stifling, authoritarian culture in which the principles of free speech, open inquiry, and democratic debate are sacrificed in the name of social justice.
But for the managerial class, this is not a problem—it is, in fact, the point. Wokeism provides a justification for their control over society, allowing them to present themselves as the guardians of progress and moral virtue. And because wokeism focuses so heavily on identity-based issues, it allows the managerial class to deflect attention away from their own role in perpetuating economic inequality and social stratification.
The Contradictions of Wokeism
Wokeism, like any ideology, is rife with contradictions. One of the most glaring is its simultaneous embrace of both hyper-individualism and collectivism. On the one hand, wokeism celebrates the idea that individuals can define their own identities, free from the constraints of biology, tradition, or social norms. This is most evident in the realm of gender identity, where woke ideology asserts that individuals have the right to define their gender however they see fit, regardless of biological reality.
At the same time, wokeism demands strict conformity to a set of collective beliefs about identity, power, and oppression. Those who deviate from these beliefs—whether by questioning the validity of gender ideology, challenging the narrative of systemic racism, or defending traditional notions of free speech—are labeled as bigots and ostracized from the community. In this sense, wokeism operates as a kind of pseudo-religion, where heretics are excommunicated and believers are expected to adhere to a rigid orthodoxy.
Another contradiction lies in wokeism’s relationship with science and reason. While woke activists often claim to be champions of evidence-based policy and scientific progress, they frequently reject scientific findings that conflict with their ideological commitments. This is most evident in the realm of gender and biology, where woke ideology insists that gender is entirely a social construct, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that biological sex is real and has profound implications for human behavior and society.
Similarly, wokeism’s embrace of environmentalism often clashes with its support for unrestricted immigration and population growth. While woke activists frequently call for drastic measures to combat climate change, they also advocate for policies that would increase the strain on the planet’s resources, such as open borders and unlimited immigration. This contradiction is rarely acknowledged, let alone addressed, within woke circles.
Wokeism as the New Civil Religion
In many ways, wokeism functions as a kind of new civil religion for the modern era, replacing the older forms of American civil religion that were rooted in Protestant Christianity and Enlightenment liberalism. Like any religion, wokeism provides its adherents with a sense of moral purpose and a framework for understanding the world. It divides the world into good and evil, with the forces of social justice on one side and the forces of oppression on the other. It offers a path to salvation through the pursuit of equity, inclusion, and diversity, and it demands strict adherence to its dogmas.
But like any religion, wokeism is also a tool of power. It serves to legitimize the authority of the ruling class, providing them with a moral justification for their control over society. And just as the old American civil religion was used to justify the expansion of the U.S. empire and the exploitation of labor, wokeism is used to justify the new forms of imperialism and exploitation that characterize the modern global economy.
Wokeism, in this sense, is not a radical ideology. It is a deeply conservative one, designed to preserve the existing power structures while giving them a new veneer of legitimacy. By focusing on identity-based grievances and elevating symbolic gestures over material change, wokeism ensures that the real sources of power—capitalism, the state, and the managerial class—remain unchallenged.
Wokeism is a complex and multifaceted ideology, one that operates on many levels—cultural, political, economic, and psychological. At its core, it is a worldview that seeks to impose a new moral order on society, one that prioritizes identity over class, feelings over facts, and conformity over free thought. While it presents itself as a movement for social justice, it is, in reality, a tool of the ruling class, designed to maintain their power while deflecting attention away from the deeper structural inequalities that define modern capitalism.
In the end, wokeism is not a threat to the ruling class—it is their greatest asset. By co-opting the language of social justice and identity politics, they have found a way to preserve their power while silencing dissent and dividing the working class. If we are to challenge the power of the ruling class, we must first recognize wokeism for what it truly is: a false consciousness, one that serves the interests of the elite while pretending to fight for the marginalized. Only then can we begin to build a movement that truly challenges the structures of power and creates a more just and equitable world.
Reading List:
The Managerial Revolution: What Is Happening in the World – James Burnham
A critical analysis of how the rise of the managerial class reshaped power dynamics in modern society, laying the groundwork for today’s technocratic elites.False Consciousness: An Essay on Reification – Georg Lukács
Lukács' exploration of how ideology can distort class consciousness, providing a framework for understanding wokeism as a form of ideological control.Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam – Vivek Ramaswamy
A critique of how corporations exploit woke culture for profit and power, distracting from their role in perpetuating inequality.The Power Elite – C. Wright Mills
A sociological study that examines the interconnected networks of elites in the U.S., showing how power operates behind the scenes in government, business, and the military.The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations – Christopher Lasch
A critical look at how individualism and self-obsession have come to dominate American culture, with implications for understanding the rise of identity politics.The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy – Christopher Lasch
Lasch examines how the elites have distanced themselves from the working class, using progressive rhetoric to justify their power.The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System – Milovan Djilas
A critique of the rise of a new ruling class within socialist regimes, with parallels to today’s managerial elites and their control over cultural institutions.The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism – Daniel Bell
Bell's analysis of how capitalism creates cultural values that eventually undermine its own social stability, relevant to the role of wokeism in modern capitalism.The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium – Martin Gurri
An examination of how digital media has disrupted traditional authority structures, contributing to the rise of both wokeism and its opposition.The Ruling Class: How They Corrupted America and What We Can Do About It – Angelo Codevilla
A critique of the bipartisan ruling class in America, with insights into how cultural battles like wokeism are used to maintain elite control.