In another insightful Substack post well worth reading in its entirety, Carol Horton describes how current social justice dynamics “take what are in fact extremely important and much-needed traditionally feminine values — kindness, sensitivity, caring, and so on — and twists them into something that’s quite the opposite” and that these patterns of “psycho-emotional manipulation and bullying” could be described as “toxic femininity.” Since the education and library fields skew heavily female, this may partially explain why “wokeism” took early root there.
And yet, library staff generally are Very Nice People. They tend to be idealistic and deeply caring, and, as Horton writes, the vast majority of people caught up in the “woke tsunami” are good people “caught up in a bad trend” who are likely “more compassionate and idealistic than most.” This may be the larger explanation of why libraries have gone “woke.”
Horton further describes how social justice tactics play neatly into a developing culture of “surveillance capitalism.” She writes:
Here, we see the logical congruence between surveillance capitalism and Wokeism. Both excel at psycho-emotional manipulation. Both generate groupthink dynamics and herd-like behavior. Both have a built-in hostility to freedom of speech. Both encourage self-censorship. Both are fundamentally antithetical to liberal democratic values of all stripes, including but not limited to those of the old-school, non-Woke progressive variety. And on a metaphorical level, both could be said to be running more on the new toxically feminine dynamics of covert relational aggression than on the old toxically masculine model of overt hierarchical domination.
Surveillance video cameras, Gdynia.jpeg/ Wikimedia Commons
Like Horton, I surmise that, although “woke” trends had been simmering in the background for decades, they exploded into the mainstream because of how well they serve surveillance capitalism (in my more cynical moments I think no grassroots movements succeed until they serve new structural paradigms). Horton writes:
To be clear, this isn’t to suggest that Wokeism caused the rise of surveillance capitalism. On the contrary, the most powerful dynamics run precisely the other way. As many political analysts have pointed out, core ideological contributors to Wokeism date back to the 1990s, including queer theory, critical legal studies, and third-wave feminism. The roots of these intellectual movements, in turn, can be traced back to the New Left of the 1960s-70s or even further. Despite this long historical pedigree, however, Wokeism didn’t really take off until the Internet had become such an inextricable part of everyday life that what happened in cyberspace started to reframe and re-engineer reality. Such a widely unpopular movement could never have become as powerful as it did unless it synched with the structural logic of surveillance capitalism, which was gaining power and momentum at precisely the same time.
Surveillance capitalism came to my mind just last week when I was setting up a new auto insurance plan and was asked by the customer service rep if I wanted to install a tracking device that would register all my moves while driving, including how many times I tapped my cell phone, with the hope of lowering my insurance rates. I answered, “Yeah I think I’ll pass.” The rep responded, somewhat conspiratorially, “I understand.”
With library literature and conferences skewing so heavily to topics related to the current social justice paradigm, discussions of surveillance capitalism have been crowded out. In my mind, this is the biggest cost to the library field.
I need to think about this a bit. I've taught so long that my early classes were about how much genre fiction was too much in the library?
Yes, we are very nice people. ALA was the first professional association to have a LGBT official presence. We were better on this than we were on Civil Rights only withdrawing membership of segregated chapters in the 1960s.
And yes, our conferences and literature and literary awards have become tied to the current social justice paradigm.
I do like that Dolly Parton will receive ALA Honorary Membership this year at ALA. Her focus on literacy and not identity is a hopeful sign.
Susan, thanks for writing this and for posting Carol Horton's substack article. It's one of the best incisive pieces I've seen in some time on "wokism" and other large topics such surveillance capitalism that should concern us. I agree that the profession is paying a high price in opportunity costs because we paying homage to one version only of "social justice" and not considering other versions that more naturally align with our commitments to intellectual freedom--in fact, in my view the version now in the ascendancy violates key tenets of intellectual freedom.
I highly recommend Carol Horton's substack Liberal Confessions--she may express, better than many writers, some of the tensions and challenges some of us are working through in allegiances to liberal principles and values but are finding it hugely problematic, to use an oft-favored word, to reconcile those with some aspects of the ideologies now prominent in the field (and more generally, in academia).
Mark Lilla is a writer/public intellectual (and faculty member at Columbia) whose thinking on some of these tensions is also useful (i.e., The Once and Future Liberal).
I'd been thinking about how woke culture aligns with surveillance trends for some time now but Horton's piece really captures it so well. I'm also glad she brought up the Angela Nagle book because I read that a few years ago and found it very insightful as well.
I agree that the technological aspect of survelliance is troubling and the examples mentioned here are compelling. Maybe my older model Saturn I'm driving for now (Saturns aren't even made any more as you know) doesn't have the surveillance capacities that other cars do. Soon enough all technologies we use, though, come with some kind of surveillance capacity build into them, for, I'm sure "our own good", taking some agency about choice away from us.
I'd also say that there's other dimensions of the intersections between wokism and surveillance--language policing and monitoring, suggestions about performative rituals to be used in organizations, listing-keeping and attendance records at events--some of this is more behind-the-scenes but all survellience is like that, I'm sure, just in different ways.
On another note, I think Substack has removed the "post to twitter" check box-- maybe because of their new Notes feature. But hopefully this can be posted to twitter and Carol Horton tagged.
This situation between Twitter and Substack appears to still be mutable and uncertain--I've had some difficulty keeping up with it. Thanks for staying up to date what what Substack is doing.
"SurveillaSurveillance capitalism came to my mind just last week when I was setting up a new auto insurance plan and was asked by the customer service rep if I wanted to install a tracking device that would register all my moves while driving, including how many times I tapped my cell phone, with the hope of lowering my insurance rates. I answered, “Yeah I think I’ll pass.” The rep responded, somewhat conspiratorially, “I understand.”nce capitalism came to my mind just last week when I was setting up a new auto insurance plan and was asked by the customer service rep if I wanted to install a tracking device that would register all my moves while driving, including how many times I tapped my cell phone, with the hope of lowering my insurance rates. I answered, “Yeah I think I’ll pass.” The rep responded, somewhat conspiratorially, “I understand.”"
Same here. Did you know it all cellphones sold in the U.S. must have GPS chips installed in them - even non-"Smartphones"? When you turn off location service permissions all it does is turn off _your_ ability to use them. They are still operational and can be queried by law enforcement and others.
So, would having a backup burner phone to use while driving and leave our cell-phones somewhere else work? Or do burner phones have the GPS chip, too? Is there no way I can avoid being followed when I go somewhere I do not want anyone to know? (now I'm trying to think where this might be? enemy baseball parks)
All you have to do is wrap your phone tightly in aluminum foil. It makes a Faraday cage. But you wont be getting any phone calls or texts for the duration. And modern cars all have had GPS chips required in them just like phones, so the enemy baseball teams will still know where you are. :-)
“Covert relational aggression.” What could be a better label for a movement that asserts that the intent of a messenger or substance of a message matters less than the sensitivities of the audience.
this is an interesting article and what makes it more interesting is that i recently watched a tik tok clip of someone summarizing the short story harrison bergeron by kurt vonnegut. how true it is that librarianship is swallowed up in wokism and to speak out about it is akin to committing a sin especially if spoken out about it. in the short story, people are forced to wear masks or handicaps and everyone is surveilled and their intelligence is regulated . There are government agents that "enforce the equality laws," and when harrison attempts to take over the government and remove handicaps he is killed and things revert back to "normal" as if the incident didn't happen. it's scary how this parallels to what is happening today.
Thanks for sharing my article along with this really great summary! I appreciate it a lot.
And as a life-long public library patron (I used to walk to our local branch and come home with armloads of books regularly starting at age 8), I very much appreciate what youi're doing to keep the spirit of free inquiry and liberal education alive in those vital institutions as well.
I wonder if another factor in all of this is that the generation that typically volunteered for organizations is aging out so the ideologues saw an opening.
Thanks! I don't know. I do think that this new pseudo-progressive movement attracts and rewards very problematic personality types who are always looking for openings to exploit. I have heard enough accounts from disillusioned or more sane/critical people who have been involved, though, to feel certain that they attack each other constantly as well. Woke "movement spaces" sound hellish; it's sad that a lot of people who don't know better are caught up in them because they're now enmeshed a social world that incentivizes terrible behavior.
I need to think about this a bit. I've taught so long that my early classes were about how much genre fiction was too much in the library?
Yes, we are very nice people. ALA was the first professional association to have a LGBT official presence. We were better on this than we were on Civil Rights only withdrawing membership of segregated chapters in the 1960s.
And yes, our conferences and literature and literary awards have become tied to the current social justice paradigm.
I do like that Dolly Parton will receive ALA Honorary Membership this year at ALA. Her focus on literacy and not identity is a hopeful sign.
Two cornucopias of related data points:
"Sex and the Academy"
https://archive.ph/CMEXn#selection-1025.157-1025.292
"How to Understand the Well-Being Gap between Liberals and Conservatives"
https://archive.ph/lBJTT#selection-1489.0-1507.185
Susan, thanks for writing this and for posting Carol Horton's substack article. It's one of the best incisive pieces I've seen in some time on "wokism" and other large topics such surveillance capitalism that should concern us. I agree that the profession is paying a high price in opportunity costs because we paying homage to one version only of "social justice" and not considering other versions that more naturally align with our commitments to intellectual freedom--in fact, in my view the version now in the ascendancy violates key tenets of intellectual freedom.
I highly recommend Carol Horton's substack Liberal Confessions--she may express, better than many writers, some of the tensions and challenges some of us are working through in allegiances to liberal principles and values but are finding it hugely problematic, to use an oft-favored word, to reconcile those with some aspects of the ideologies now prominent in the field (and more generally, in academia).
Mark Lilla is a writer/public intellectual (and faculty member at Columbia) whose thinking on some of these tensions is also useful (i.e., The Once and Future Liberal).
I'd been thinking about how woke culture aligns with surveillance trends for some time now but Horton's piece really captures it so well. I'm also glad she brought up the Angela Nagle book because I read that a few years ago and found it very insightful as well.
I agree that the technological aspect of survelliance is troubling and the examples mentioned here are compelling. Maybe my older model Saturn I'm driving for now (Saturns aren't even made any more as you know) doesn't have the surveillance capacities that other cars do. Soon enough all technologies we use, though, come with some kind of surveillance capacity build into them, for, I'm sure "our own good", taking some agency about choice away from us.
I'd also say that there's other dimensions of the intersections between wokism and surveillance--language policing and monitoring, suggestions about performative rituals to be used in organizations, listing-keeping and attendance records at events--some of this is more behind-the-scenes but all survellience is like that, I'm sure, just in different ways.
On another note, I think Substack has removed the "post to twitter" check box-- maybe because of their new Notes feature. But hopefully this can be posted to twitter and Carol Horton tagged.
This situation between Twitter and Substack appears to still be mutable and uncertain--I've had some difficulty keeping up with it. Thanks for staying up to date what what Substack is doing.
I think Sarah set us up with permissions for twitter but I'm not sure how to go about it. I do think we can post Substack articles again.
"SurveillaSurveillance capitalism came to my mind just last week when I was setting up a new auto insurance plan and was asked by the customer service rep if I wanted to install a tracking device that would register all my moves while driving, including how many times I tapped my cell phone, with the hope of lowering my insurance rates. I answered, “Yeah I think I’ll pass.” The rep responded, somewhat conspiratorially, “I understand.”nce capitalism came to my mind just last week when I was setting up a new auto insurance plan and was asked by the customer service rep if I wanted to install a tracking device that would register all my moves while driving, including how many times I tapped my cell phone, with the hope of lowering my insurance rates. I answered, “Yeah I think I’ll pass.” The rep responded, somewhat conspiratorially, “I understand.”"
Same here. Did you know it all cellphones sold in the U.S. must have GPS chips installed in them - even non-"Smartphones"? When you turn off location service permissions all it does is turn off _your_ ability to use them. They are still operational and can be queried by law enforcement and others.
No, I didn't know that! I will say my new car feels very "Big Brother" in that it beeps whenever I do something it doesn't like.
Do you get mad at your car? I do.
Yes!
So, would having a backup burner phone to use while driving and leave our cell-phones somewhere else work? Or do burner phones have the GPS chip, too? Is there no way I can avoid being followed when I go somewhere I do not want anyone to know? (now I'm trying to think where this might be? enemy baseball parks)
All you have to do is wrap your phone tightly in aluminum foil. It makes a Faraday cage. But you wont be getting any phone calls or texts for the duration. And modern cars all have had GPS chips required in them just like phones, so the enemy baseball teams will still know where you are. :-)
I like it-- a tinfoil hat for the cell phone!
For all the material I’ve read in “wokeness,” Carol’s series is easily one of the top ten!
Agree!
This is one of the best things I've read on the subject - really helps explain why I don't recognize the world anymore! Thanks for sharing.
“Covert relational aggression.” What could be a better label for a movement that asserts that the intent of a messenger or substance of a message matters less than the sensitivities of the audience.
this is an interesting article and what makes it more interesting is that i recently watched a tik tok clip of someone summarizing the short story harrison bergeron by kurt vonnegut. how true it is that librarianship is swallowed up in wokism and to speak out about it is akin to committing a sin especially if spoken out about it. in the short story, people are forced to wear masks or handicaps and everyone is surveilled and their intelligence is regulated . There are government agents that "enforce the equality laws," and when harrison attempts to take over the government and remove handicaps he is killed and things revert back to "normal" as if the incident didn't happen. it's scary how this parallels to what is happening today.
Thanks for sharing my article along with this really great summary! I appreciate it a lot.
And as a life-long public library patron (I used to walk to our local branch and come home with armloads of books regularly starting at age 8), I very much appreciate what youi're doing to keep the spirit of free inquiry and liberal education alive in those vital institutions as well.
Love all your writing!
I wonder if another factor in all of this is that the generation that typically volunteered for organizations is aging out so the ideologues saw an opening.
Thanks! I don't know. I do think that this new pseudo-progressive movement attracts and rewards very problematic personality types who are always looking for openings to exploit. I have heard enough accounts from disillusioned or more sane/critical people who have been involved, though, to feel certain that they attack each other constantly as well. Woke "movement spaces" sound hellish; it's sad that a lot of people who don't know better are caught up in them because they're now enmeshed a social world that incentivizes terrible behavior.
I have had some experience with that terrible behavior and it's not pretty.