The Comfortable Embrace: How the ‘Woke Left’ Serves Capital

While the fight for social justice and representation remains morally urgent, there’s mounting evidence that today’s dominant form of left-wing politics – what critics call the ‘woke left’ – may be uniquely compatible with capitalism’s survival. This very striving for liberation, in its current form, may inadvertently serve as the preserving brine of the capitalist order.

There’s no question that addressing historical marginalisation matters. But when our analysis stops at cultural representation – when we fixate on the fissured landscape of identity without confronting the economic engine driving inequality – we risk what Nancy Fraser (have a deeks) terms “progressive neoliberalism.” Corporations happily endorse diversity initiatives while fighting unionisation. Universities champion inclusive language as associate lecturers food-bank. This fragmented consciousness – this splitting of economic and cultural justice – is exactly how capital maintains its grip.

Walk through any corporate office today and you’ll be able to spot the co-option in real time: rainbow logos worn proudly on the lapels of union-busting senior management, Black History Month displays in offices paying poverty wages. These performative virtue-signals aren’t just hypocritical – they’re structurally useful. They allow elites to rebrand exploitation as empowerment, turning what should be systemic critiques into HR workshops. The danger isn’t that these efforts go too far, but that they don’t go far enough – settling for visibility without redistribution.

Here’s where the left’s messaging backfires: when our language becomes more about policing nuance than building power. Academic terms meant to highlight oppression (“cisheteropatriarchy,” “racial capitalism”) often alienate the very people who’d benefit most from economic justice. This isn’t about “dumbing down” – it’s about recognising, as Gramsci warned, that politics requires meeting people where they are. When we prioritise ideological purity over coalition-building, we hand conservatives a gift.

The solution isn’t abandoning identity politics, but grounding it in material struggle.

The true realisation of a just society demands we grasp the universalising power of economic forces – not as a replacement for cultural justice, but as its necessary foundation. The task ahead is to reconnect what capital has divided. It’s about rediscovering what once made the left formidable: the simple, dangerous idea that those who create wealth should control it.

This isn’t about moderation – it’s about radical coherence.