The abnormalisation of social justice: The ‘anti-woke culture war’ discourse in the UK

Abstract

In this article, the so-called ‘anti-woke’ culture war is deconstructed through the notions of metapolitics in fascist discourses – linked to the Gramscian ‘hegemonisation’ and ‘the war of position’ – as well as the Schmittian friend/enemy distinction coupled with theories of deviance and moral panics. The appropriation of the neo-fascist culture war discourse by the mainstream right in the UK is analysed discursively, combining political discourse analysis, the discourse-historical approach and discourse-conceptual analysis. The anti-woke culture war by the British conservative party as well as rightwing media will serve to analyse how social justice struggles like anti-racism, anti-sexism and pro-LGBTQ rights are being abnormalised and positioned as extreme deviant political positions. Linked to this, so-called ‘cancel culture’ is strategically deployed by dominant groups to neutralise contestations against racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ views. Finally, freedom of speech and the right to offend is weaponised to protect racist and discriminatory language and to position these idea’s as valid opinions worthy of democratic debate.

Demonising Migrants in Contexts of Extremism: Analysis of Hate Speech in UK and Spain

“…The "woke" are thus classified as extremists who promote progressive social justice policies which run counter to traditional values. Hence, woke went from a social justice concept to a pejorative term weaponised by the alt-right in an attempt to discredit or silence progressive voices (Cammaerts, 2022). The context here is crucial and relates to how a frame is constructed with clear negative connotations.…”

Political nature of contemporary culture and art: Negation of dominant and/or affirmation of marginal culture

“…На тај начин "нова" култура и савремене умјетничке праксе постају подручја политичких и идентитетских борби за признавањем и позиционирањем мањина у ширем друштвено-политичком контексту. Политичко се сели у оно свакодневно и симболичко, чиме постаје битан параметар у конституисању културе (Eagleton, 2002), јер борба за признање, коју маргиналне и подређене групе у друштву с правом [6] '), а културе и савремене умјетничке праксе постају простори идентитетских, политичких и идеолошких борби (Brennan, 2006;Cammaerts, 2022).…”

“…Њене главне карактеристике нису монолитност, аутентичност, несводивост и непреводивост, већ -хибридност и прилагодљивост. Зато што настаје из сусрета мањине и већине, [6] Термин долази од италијанског филозофа Антонија Грамшија (Antonio Gramsci), којим објашњава интелектуалну борбу у циљу стварања нове културе, која се супроставља културној хегемонији буржоазије (видјети више : Cammaerts, 2022).…”

An anatomy of the British war on woke

“…From their various media and political platforms, these anti-woke campaigners retain the right to adjudicate what is woke and what they allow to be considered normal, thereby policing the speech and behaviours of social justice campaigners. 4 To achieve this, anti-woke actors have to be seen to be moral and rational. However, woke and wokeism are not empirically established concepts.…”