3. Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), an Italian philosopher and politician, develops the concept of cultural hegemony. He argues that the ruling class maintains its power not only by force but also by controlling cultural institutions. Gramsci argues that to achieve social change, collective consciousness must first be transformed to resist this control by the dominant class. He introduces the idea of the ‘war of position’, a strategy of gradual social change through cultural institutions, as opposed to the direct revolutionary “war of movement”. His ideas profoundly influenced various left-wing movements, emphasising the importance of culture and education in the political struggle. Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony has become central to many contemporary critical analyses, including the ‘woke’ movement. This explains why this movement focuses on the cultural practices of the dominant and the dominated rather than on the political and economic realities of the working classes.

4. Frantz Fanon (1925-1961), a psychiatrist and essayist from Martinique, introduces and develops the Gramscian idea of awareness from an anti-colonial and Marxist perspective. In his essay Black Skin, White Masks (1952), Fanon argues that racial distinction was established as a bourgeois superstructure to reinforce the oppression of colonised peoples. The first responsibility of the social struggle (as well as the cultural and economic struggle) is, therefore, to raise the consciousness of the masses—especially the oppressed ones—by getting them to understand the superstructure that explains their oppression, and thus giving them the essential means to overthrow it. This process of raising awareness becomes the spearhead of an anti-colonial revolutionary approach.

5. Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979), a German philosopher and sociologist associated with the Frankfurt School, developed a radical analysis of advanced industrial society. In One-Dimensional Man (1964), he argues that modern capitalist society creates false needs that integrate individuals into the existing system of production and consumption. Marcuse proposes the concept of the “Great Refusal,” a radical opposition to the established order. He became an influential figure in student movements and the New Left in the 1960s. His ideas on liberating repressed desires and criticising ‘repressive tolerance’ profoundly affected counter-culture movements. Marcuse’s influence can be seen in many aspects of ‘wokeism’, particularly in its critique of existing power structures and its call for a radical transformation of society.

6. Paulo Freire (1921-1997), a Brazilian educationalist, developed a concept aimed at constructing education as a process of self-awareness and liberation. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968), he elaborated that education should not be a tool for cultural domination but a means for learners to understand their daily lives and become aware of the reasons for their oppressive situation. Freire takes up the concept of awareness proposed by Frantz Fanon and develops the idea of education as a process of awakening and liberation. Awareness of oppression is then presented as a genuine stage in individual and social transformation, followed by permanent cultural and social action with a view to emancipation (which can be described as militancy in the broad sense of the term). This emancipation then pursues a goal of profound transformation of society, well beyond work and consumption, in the direction of comprehensive equality. As he was also a liberation theologian, his activism, particularly as an educational consultant to the World Council of Churches in Geneva, enabled him to spread this idea to Catholic and Protestant trade union movements. Trade unions and all militant movements can, therefore, participate in this pursuit of emancipation by including its cultural and societal dimensions.

7. Henry Giroux (born 1943), an American theorist, developed critical pedagogy based on the work of Freire. He creates a theory and methodology of critical pedagogy in the United States, linking it with the achievements of critical theory (developed by Marcuse and the Frankfurt School) and critical studies in the social sciences, which look at the objectification and marginalisation of categories of the population deemed to be discriminated (e.g., Women’s Studies, Black Studies, Queer Studies). From the 1970s-1980s onwards, educational programs (including militant training) were disseminated on American university campuses and in specific emancipation movements such as the Black Panthers and the Gay Liberation Movement. This thinking and these programmes then spread to the teaching of social sciences and education as well as to social and political action, in particular to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies of private and public companies, and more recently to education in general (compulsory and university).

8. The concept of awareness with a view to activism is found in militant anti-racist movements, particularly Black Lives Matter, which efficiently invests in the viral means of communication that are social networks. More specifically, the idea of being ‘aware’ is referred to in Afro-American slang as ‘to be woke,’ which means ‘to be awake, alert.’ The term has become a meme, hence ‘woke thinking’ or ‘wokeism.’ It was popularised by the inter-ethnic justice movement, particularly by the Black Lives Matter organisation around the significant protests in the United States in 2013, notably through the song ‘Master Teacher’ by Erykah Badu, whose refrain “I Stay Woke” has become an epitome. As a result, the term ‘woke’ has become synonymous with social consciousness.

The mixed reception of ‘wokeism’

Over the past decade, the ‘woke’ phenomenon has grown in popularity and interest, both online and offline, in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. However, it is also highly polarised as a system of ideas and a social movement. On the one hand, its supporters see it as an indispensable tool for combating systemic injustices. On the other, its detractors criticise what they perceive as a form of ideological extremism. A few facts and figures illustrate this:

1. The use of the term ‘woke’ on Twitter has impressively increased, from a few hundred mentions in 2014 to over 100,000 mentions per day in 2020. This explosion in using the term on social networks reflects the growing interest in the concept and the debates it generates.
2. In France, an IFOP study in 2021 revealed that only 14% of French people knew what ‘woke thinking’ was. Although this figure is relatively low, it indicates significant penetration of the concept in French society, especially given its Anglo-Saxon origins. However, adoption of the above-mentioned specific ideas remains very much in the minority among the French population (11% to 19%, depending on the subject), even though they often win over the majority of French people who see what these ideas are specifically about.
3. In the UK, a survey conducted by YouGov in July 2022 showed that 57% of Britons knew what the term ‘woke’ meant. Yet 73% of those who used the term did so in a derogatory sense. These figures highlight the polarising nature of the phenomenon, even in a European country.
4. At the end of 2022, the word ‘wokisme’ was added to the French dictionary Le Robert, demonstrating its integration into everyday language and its growing cultural importance.
5. In the United States, the number of DEI-related positions (a field predominantly defined by ‘woke’ thinking) in large companies has doubled in six years, rising from nearly 6,000 positions in 2016 to almost 13,000 in 2022. This number has been declining slightly since then. Similarly, around half of the 500 largest listed companies (S&P 500) now link executive pay to diversity performance targets, although this percentage has fallen by 5 points in the last two years.

These data illustrate the extent of interest in the ‘woke’ phenomenon, which has spread from the United States to Europe. Although its interpretation and reception vary considerably, the concept has undeniably penetrated public discourse and civic debates. Interest in ‘wokeism’ is evident not only online, through social networking and internet discussions, but also offline, as evidenced by opinion polls and its inclusion in dictionaries. This growing popularity has also given rise to various reactions, from enthusiastic support to strong opposition, reflecting current social and political divisions.