wokeism

English

Alternative forms

• woke-ism, wokism

Etymology

From woke (“left-wing on social justice issues”) +‎ -ism (forms names of movements, doctrines, etc.).

Noun

wokeism (countable and uncountable, plural wokeisms) (chiefly derogatory)

1. (uncountable) The ideology of wokeness, of holding social-justice-oriented or left-wing views or attitudes, especially in a way that is deemed overzealous, performative, or insincere.
   • 2021, 23 June, The Daily Telegraph (p. 19): David Goodhart, Has wokeism crushed the working class?
2. (countable) A word or expression that is woke.
   • 2024, Helen Pluckrose, The Counterweight Handbook:

     Whereas companies once used the term "civil rights movement" when discussing issues of social justice, their language shifted in 2015 and became dominated by "wokeisms" such as "allyship" "diversity equity," "equity and inclusion," and "racial justice."

   • 2024, Bruce Wagner, The Met Gala & Tales of Saints and Seekers:

     Many of them are leaving us — the words. Gone into hiding […] Now they lurk, uncaged, behind other words, behind trending, brittle, bloodless little wokeisms […]

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:wokeism.

Related terms

• wokedom
• wokeish
• wokeist
• wokeness
• woker

Descendants

• → Dutch: wokisme
• → French: wokisme

Translations

excessive political correctness

• Breton: wokerezh
• Dutch: wokisme (nl) n
• French: wokisme (fr) m
• German: Wokismus (de) m
• Japanese: ウォキズム
• Latvian: atjēdzība f
• Portuguese: lacração (pt) f