Woke culture makes us conscious of inequalities

The argument

Woke culture, in its purest form, aims to acknowledge that many oppressive functions of society are not blatant acts of racism and bigotry, but systemic and behavioral. That distinction is the whole of the argument. A society can outlaw explicit discrimination and still produce unequal outcomes, because the machinery that produces them sits in ordinary procedures rather than in anyone's stated intent. The criminal justice system in the United States is the example offered: an institution that perpetuates racial inequity, primarily for black Americans. No individual decision within it need be an overt act of racism for the aggregate result to fall unequally, which is exactly what makes the pattern hard to name and easy to deny. Yet it is no less harmful for being impersonal — the consequences for the people subject to it are the same whether the cause was intent or structure. This is where the utility of being woke appears. If the harm is structural, then noticing it is not a trivial act, because a structure that goes unremarked continues to operate unchallenged. Through observance and criticism of these structures, the argument runs, we can hopefully dismantle oppressive systems — but only once they have been identified as systems rather than as a series of unrelated individual outcomes. Scale is what turns that awareness into leverage. With wokeness becoming more prevalent on the left, a coalition of social activists can begin to hold accountable the people, institutions and systems that have been protected under a veil of power for centuries — protected, in large part, by not being visible as objects of criticism at all. The final step is practical. Once the true nature of these systems is clear, protests, activism and policy can all be employed to fight for change. Consciousness of inequality is not offered here as an end in itself but as the precondition for doing anything about it.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Racism is an overt act of bigotry, so to define it in such broad terms is too black and white. While there are still some racists and boots, most aspects of society present an equal opportunity to everyone, regardless of race, gender, and sexuality. When woke culture criticizes something like the criminal justice system, they conflate racism with policies they disagree with. The breadth of things that become racist and oppressive through a woke worldview is too wide. Many of these can be explained by other factors, such as wealth inequality, crime, health, and education. Considering this, activism is misplaced when we should be discussing other issues that ail disadvantaged populations.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Many of the perceived inequities are not the result of systemic racism and bigotry, but problems with poverty, education, and health. [Rejecting P2] Many of the institutions, individuals, and systems that are criticized are not guilty of any bigotry, but just bad policy and behavior.