In brief, “woke” means having awakened to having a particular type of “
critical consciousness,” as these are understood within Critical
Social Justice. To first approximation, being woke means viewing society through various
critical lenses, as defined by various
critical theories bent in service of an ideology most people currently call “Social Justice.” That is, being woke means having taken on the worldview of Critical Social Justice, which sees the world only in terms of
unjust power dynamics and the need to
dismantle problematic systems. That is, it means having adopted
Theory and the worldview it conceptualizes.
Under “wokeness,” this awakened consciousness is set particularly with regard to issues of
identity, like
race,
sex,
gender,
sexuality, and others. The terminology derives from the idea of having been awakened (or, “woke up”) to an awareness of the allegedly systemic nature of
racism,
sexism, and other
oppressive power dynamics and the true nature of
privilege,
domination, and
marginalization in society and understanding the role in dominant
discourses in producing and maintaining these structural forces. Furthermore, being woke carries the imperative to become a social activist with regard to these issues and problems, again, on the terms set by Critical Social Justice. This—especially for
white people—is to include a lifelong commitment to an ongoing process of self-reflection, self-criticism, and (
progressive) social activism in the name of Theory and Social Justice (see also,
antiracism).
