The phrase “woke right” has been around for several years. In a 2022 interview, U.S. representative Dan Crenshaw (R) criticized the “woke right,” which he described as a mostly “online phenomenon.” According to Crenshaw, people on the woke right portray themselves as victims, immediately label anyone who disagrees with them as “establishment” or “globalist,” and “resemble the far left more than anything.” More recently, secular cultural commentators like Konstantin Kisin have likewise criticized the “woke right” for its knee-jerk contrarianism and have argued that the “Dissident Right” is “going woke.”
However, the use of the phrase “woke right” in evangelical circles seems to have begun in Nov. 2022 with Kevin DeYoung’s review of Stephen Wolfe’s book The Case for Christian Nationalism.
…Finally, in 2020, I (descriptively, not pejoratively) defined left-wing wokeness as follows:
1) society is divided into oppressed/oppressor groups along lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, etc via 2) hegemonic power. But privileged people are blind so 3) we need to defer to the lived experience of the marginalized to 4) dismantle unjust systems.
A few months ago, I argued that the ideology of the “Dissident Right” could be defined in precisely analogous terms:
1) society is divided into straight White men and their enemies via 2) hegemonic norms (“the Longhouse,” “postwar consensus,” “Judeo-Christianity”) but normies are blind so 3) we need to redpill them to 4) retake the West.
…I do think the term “woke right” is reasonable, provided the ideas of the “woke right” are sufficiently similar to those of the “woke left.
But are they? To answer that question, I’d like to turn to some prominent examples of right-wing wokeness from the last few years.
The first example comes from Stephen Wolfe’s cohost on the Ars Politica podcast. In 2021, he published an article under a pseudonym at the website Identity Dixie. In it, he commends an approach he calls “White AntiFragility.” He argues that White people need to explicitly embrace the ideas promoted by critical race educator Robin DiAngelo in her book White Fragility. Read more»
Neil Shenvi | “What Is The ‘Woke Right'”?” | March 31, 2023
RESOURCES
- Subscribe to The Heidelblog!
- Download the HeidelApp on Apple App Store or Google Play
- Browse the Heidelshop!
- The Heidelblog Resource Page
- Heidelmedia Resources
- The Ecumenical Creeds
- The Reformed Confessions
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- The Heidelberg Catechism: A Historical, Theological, & Pastoral Commentary (Lexham Press, 2025)
- Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008)
- Why I Am A Christian
- What Must A Christian Believe?
- Heidelblog Contributors
- Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button or send a check to
Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
Heidelblog
The Heidelblog has been in publication since 2007. It is devoted to recovering the Reformed confession and to helping others discover Reformed theology, piety, and practice.
More by Heidelblog ›