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Origins and History of Woke

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Published July 25, 2024

Senior Hoover Fellow, Victor Davis Hanson, traces the origins of wokeness from its roots in the 19th century Great Awakening to its current state, highlighting its evolution from a religious concept to an ideology which views the world through racial lenses. By prioritizing racial identity over individualism, the world is reduced to good vs. bad, and categorizes people as oppressors or oppressed. With such reductivism, woke ideology has the potential to undermine the foundations of American society and meritocracy.

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a classicist, and military historian. He is the author of hundreds of articles, book reviews, and newspaper editorials on Greek, agrarian, and military history and essays on contemporary culture.

Check out more from Victor Davis Hanson:

  • Read "How California's Paradise Become Our Purgatory" from Victor Davis Hanson here.
  • Watch "American vs. European Conservatism" with Victor Davis Hanson here.
  • Read The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America from Victor Davis Hanson here.

 

The opinions expressed in this video are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University. © 2024 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.