The Woke Movement as a Superficial Context of Radicalism

It is an observable phenomenon that identity politics has been one of the most important objects of debate in the political sphere since the 1960s, and these debates have divided the oppositional habitus into two. On the other hand, we observe that another form of opposition, which accelerated and became widespread through the instrumentality of social media, especially starting in the 2010s, has manifested itself in new public spaces. While this movement, called Woke activism, finds serious supporters with a kind of hyper-identity politics, they are harshly criticized, especially regarding the methods they use. While Woke supporters are highly sensitive to issues such as gender norms, ethnicity, migration, and the environment, the way in which this sensitivity is expressed is problematized by other political groups. Members of this hyper-identity movement constantly critique the views expressed publicly by social media users, especially in terms of both content and choice of words and launch an intense storm of criticism on social media for those who are caught in the Woke filter. Ultimately, this process, which is referred to in the literature as "canceling," can take an irreversible step for the perpetrator and affect his/her entire life. In this context, we will try to establish a specific framework of Woke activism. This framework will be constructed through the historical dynamics of the conceptual positioning of Woke activism and especially through critiques of the concept.