
We Have Never Been Woke
The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Musa al-Gharbi
-
By:
-
Musa al-Gharbi
How a new “woke” elite uses the language of social justice to gain more power and status—without helping the marginalized and disadvantaged
Society has never been more egalitarian—in theory. Prejudice is taboo, and diversity is strongly valued. At the same time, social and economic inequality have exploded. In We Have Never Been Woke, Musa al-Gharbi argues that these trends are closely related, each tied to the rise of a new elite—the symbolic capitalists. In education, media, nonprofits, and beyond, members of this elite work primarily with words, ideas, images, and data, and are very likely to identify as allies of antiracist, feminist, LGBTQ, and other progressive causes. Their dominant ideology is “wokeness” and, while their commitment to equality is sincere, they actively benefit from and perpetuate the inequalities they decry. Indeed, their egalitarian credentials help them gain more power and status, often at the expense of the marginalized and disadvantaged.
We Have Never Been Woke details how the language of social justice is increasingly used to justify this elite—and to portray the losers in the knowledge economy as deserving their lot because they think or say the “wrong” things about race, gender, and sexuality. Al-Gharbi’s point is not to accuse symbolic capitalists of hypocrisy or cynicism. Rather, he examines how their genuine beliefs prevent them from recognizing how they contribute to social problems—or how their actions regularly provoke backlash against the social justice causes they champion.
A powerful critique, We Have Never Been Woke reveals that only by challenging this elite’s self-serving narratives can we hope to address social and economic inequality effectively.
“In this important and timely book, Musa al-Gharbi describes the rise of the ‘symbolic capitalists,’ and how an ideology has evolved to cement their power and restrict entry from outsiders. We Have Never Been Woke effectively addresses a wide readership on this contentious issue.”—Tyler Cowen, George Mason University
Listeners also enjoyed...




















People who viewed this also viewed...


















Musa gives shape to an obvious yet obscured truth about elite culture
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The professor doesn’t prescribe changes to help bring actions into alignment with speech; instead, he simply rips the scales from the eyes of symbolic and totemic capitalists to reveal how they have been gaslighting themselves and their allies for decades with rhetoric that doesn’t match their actions, and how that alienates the very classes of people they most fervently claim they want to help.
Clear-eyed reasoning backed by rigorous research
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Best nonfiction book ever
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Title is rough, the book isn’t!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fascinating Perspective
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Tons of Great Points
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wish the author had a professional narrator
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Food for thought - not food for action
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
compelling and groundbreaking
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Should be required reading in school
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.