The DOI matches its Crossref record; 39 of the 39 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Woke? Affect, Neoliberalism, Marginalised Identities and Consumer Culture
Abstract
Reading the current conjuncture is challenging. Alongside the exigencies of the current global pandemic, we live in a moment of resurgence of right-wing nationalism, populism, and a crisis of the left across the West. At the same time, we observe a different kind of political commonsense emerging in consumer culture. From burger chains and oil companies to fast fashion, there is an increasing saturation of 'feel good' and 'positive' messages of female empowerment, LGBTIQ pride, racial and religious diversity and inclusion, and environmental awareness. In this article, we question how radical politics – especially around gender, race and sexuality – is put to work in current moment as a response to crisis/ crises in this context of corporate 'wokeness'. We analyse the texture of woke capitalism – what it re-articulates and disarticulates – using Stuart Hall's ideas of conjuncture but contribute an explicitly feminist perspective that notes the extent to which these ideological formations operate affectively . We draw on contemporary feminist work illustrating the affective operation of neoliberalism in the production of everyday life and subjectivity. Going beyond a simple diagnosis of incorporation and recuperation of radical movements, we use the case study of woke capitalism to suggest the production of new affective movements structuring the ongoing obduracy of neoliberalism.
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“Consumer responsibilization toward the issue of cultural appropriation, which has filtered into public consciousness via mainstream and social media (Kanai and Gill 2020), manifests a more 'organic' responsibilization that differs from the institutionally driven process described in Giesler and Veresiu's (2014) work.”
From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Kanai and Gill 2020
In the citing paper
“Seen in this light, consumer self-authorization epitomizes what Schmitt, Brakus, and Biraglia (2022, 84) describe as an ongoing 'dynamic between reconcilement and activism' or what Kanai and Gill (2020, 10) refer to as 'woke capitalism,' in its ambivalent attempt to reinscribe the resurgent politics of cultural diversity within the dominant logic of the market.”
From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Kanai and Gill 2020
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“Consumer responsibilization toward the issue of cultural appropriation, which has filtered into public consciousness via mainstream and social media (Kanai and Gill 2020), manifests a more “organic” responsibilization that differs from the institutionally driven process described in Giesler and…”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Kanai, A., & Gill, R.
- Affiliations
- City, University of London (GB)
- Venue
- New Formations
- Publisher
- Lawrence and Wishart
- Published
- 2020-12-01
- Volume
- 102
- Issue
- 102
- Pages
- 10-27
- ISSN
- 0950-2378 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3097676871
- Cited by
- 122
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 10
- FWCI
- 20.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- New Formations (publishedVersion)
- Goldsmiths (University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- City Research Online (City University London) (acceptedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Feminist Theory and Gender Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Feminism, Gender, and Intersectionality
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics
- Keywords
- neoliberalism, affect, consumerism, marginalized identities, gender, race, sexuality, feminist theory, Stuart Hall, conjuncture, radical movements, subjectivity, everyday life, right-wing populism
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