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The Roots of 'Woke' Culture

鈥淲okeness鈥 has become a shorthand for one side of the culture wars. But where did it come from? Journalist Helen Lewis uncovers the roots of woke.

Barack Obama condemned it. Black American activists championed it. Meghan Markle brought it to the Royal Family. 鈥淲okeness鈥 has become a shorthand for one side of the culture wars, popularising concepts like 鈥渨hite privilege鈥 and 鈥渢rigger warnings鈥 - and the idea that 鈥渓anguage is violence鈥.

Journalist Helen Lewis is on a mission to uncover the roots of this social phenomenon. On her way she meets three authors who in 2017 hoaxed a series of academic journals with fake papers on dog rape, fat bodybuilding and feminist astrology. They claimed to have exposed the jargon-loving, post-modern absurdity of politically correct university departments - whose theories drive 鈥渨oke鈥 online political movements.

But is there really a link between the contemporary language of social justice warriors and the continental philosophy of the 1960s and 70s? And are critics of wokeness just reactionaries, left uneasy by a changing world?

Producer Craig Templeton Smith
Editor Jasper Corbett

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28 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Mon 23 Mar 2020 21:00
  • Sun 29 Mar 2020 21:30

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