President Donald Trump's return to office has reignited a sharp debate: has American progressivism's push for racial and gender equity—broadly branded as "wokeness" by critics—finally crested?
The question carries real weight in Washington. Corporate diversity offices are closing. Federal agencies are gutting equity initiatives. The cultural fervor that defined much of the Biden years appears to be receding—or so the narrative goes.
But defining "wokeness" remains contested. Political scientist Eric Kaufmann describes it as the "sacralization" of historically disadvantaged racial, gender, and sexual identity groups—treating them with religious intensity and moral absolutism. Andrew Doyle, a political commentator, calls it a "cultural revolution that seeks equity according to group identity by authoritarian means," enforced through administrative coercion on language, hiring, and speech.
Both framings point to something larger than progressive manners or ideology: a moral and administrative project that merged moral urgency with bureaucratic power. That combination fueled its rapid rise—and may explain its current vulnerability.
New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg published what she called an "obituary for wokeism" in 2024, arguing the movement had reached its "deathbed." She pointed to the dismantling of DEI departments and the collapse of content warnings and microaggression policing as evidence. But she also warned against assuming the shift is permanent, noting the powerful pendulum swings that historically follow moral crusades.
Some observers see signs of a genuine cultural turn, especially on sexual and gender identity. The once-dominant framing of perpetual victimhood appears to be losing ground to arguments that biological sex carries significance, even as exceptions are acknowledged. Public opinion remains uneven by country and demographic group, however.
Magazine editors have noticed the shift firsthand. An editor at American Dreaming said the publication stopped defining critical social justice concepts in late 2023, concluding that backlash against the cultural far left had become mainstream and further explanation was unnecessary.
But not everyone reads the moment the same way. PJ Media suggested that while "wokeness" may have peaked, the left's response could destabilize politics further. HotAir disputed the peak-woke thesis altogether, arguing the movement remains influential.
What is clear: the landscape has shifted visibly from 2021 or 2022. Whether that shift proves durable remains an open question.
