Woke is the New Mainstream: The Baseline Shift and a Century-Long Trajectory, By Mrs. Vera West
In her April 2024 Guardian commentary, Gaby Hinsliff declared what many on the Right refuse to accept: "'Woke' isn't dead – it's entered the mainstream." Far from fading away, the core impulses behind "woke" ideology — pursuing social justice, racial equity, environmental responsibility, inclusivity, and challenging historical injustices — have quietly become the default setting for much of Western society. What once sparked outrage as radical activism now permeates institutions, corporate policies, education, policing, and even everyday norms. The furious backlash from conservatives isn't proof of woke's demise; it's evidence of its victory. As the establishment absorbs these values, they form the new baseline from which future cultural and political pushes originate. In a provocative long-view projection, if this trajectory continues unchecked for another century, we could witness a world where traditional hierarchies are so thoroughly inverted that it resembles a dystopian reversal — think the Planet of the Apesmovies where the formerly dominant are marginalised, and new norms reign supreme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes
From Fringe to Foundation: How Woke Went Mainstream
The term "woke," originally a call for awareness of racial injustice among Black Americans, evolved through movements like Black Lives Matter (post-2014) and #MeToo into a broader progressive framework. By the early 2020s, it influenced language, hiring, and policy across sectors. Hinsliff argues that woke is no longer "wildly anti-establishment"; instead, "it's becoming the boring old establishment." Examples abound:
The Met Police faces accusations of being "peak wokerati" for its handling of protests and diversity initiatives.
The National Trust drew flak for a "woke" scone recipe — symbolizing how even heritage bodies now incorporate inclusivity and historical reevaluation.
The British Army and even MI6 (with its head declaring pronouns on X) reflect normalised diversity practices.
Broader shifts include net-zero targets enjoying broad popularity (despite cost concerns), climate activism involving professionals like GPs and priests, and lasting #MeToo impacts on accountability.
This mainstreaming explains conservative rage: When institutions once seen as neutral or conservative adopt these values, the right cries "capture." Yet, as Hinsliff notes, woke evolves like a living organism — it starts radical, "breaks down doors," then smooths into something liveable. Public sympathy persists for core issues: trans rights debates show nuance (post-Cass review adjustments), but outright rejection remains minority.
Recent evidence reinforces this normalisation. Polling and analyses from 2024–2026 indicate progressive values on equity, inclusion, and environmentalism are embedded in corporate ESG frameworks, education curricula, and public discourse. Even amid backlash — Trump's 2025 "war on woke" targeting DEI — many institutions retain these as baseline expectations. One analysis notes that "woke" thinking ascended in elite circles around 2010–2020 and persists as millennials and Gen Z rise. Far from dead, it's the new normal: Teenagers may soon rebel against it on TikTok, but only because it's the establishment they know.
The New Baseline: Where Pushes Now Originate
Once fringe demands become institutionalised, they set the floor for debate. Future activism doesn't start from zero; it builds on this foundation. Corporate diversity training, gender-neutral language in official documents, mandatory climate disclosures, and equity-focused hiring are no longer optional, they're expected. Challenges come not from rejecting these outright but refining them: How far should inclusivity go? What trade-offs for net zero?
This baseline shift is evident in Western societies' gradual acceptance of once-controversial ideas. Acknowledging conflicting views from minority perspectives, uncovering suppressed histories, and prioritising empathy ("be kind") are now cultural defaults. Even critics concede that few defend putting slavers on pedestals anymore. The Right's complaints — "everything is woke now" — underscore the point: The battlefield has moved. Progressive values aren't imposed top-down anymore; they're the water we swim in.
A Century Ahead: Toward Planet of the Apes?
Project this forward 100 years, and the implications grow stark. If woke's evolutionary arc continues, absorbing critiques, smoothing edges, and embedding deeper, traditional power structures (patriarchal, Eurocentric, anthropocentric) could erode irreversibly. Hierarchies invert: Marginalised groups gain dominance in cultural narratives, institutions prioritise equity over merit in extreme forms, and environmental imperatives subordinate human expansion.
In this speculative future, humanity might face a Planet of the Apes-style reversal — not literal apes rising, but a metaphorical one from the movie versions, where the formerly ascendant (Western, male, industrial) become the relics. Societies could prioritise collective harmony, biodiversity, and restorative justice to such degrees that individual freedoms, national sovereignty, or economic growth yield. Dissenters from the baseline might be the outcasts, their views as archaic as colonialism seems today.
This isn't inevitable doom; it's a trajectory if unchecked. Backlashes, like Trump's DEI crackdowns or European populism, could pivot things. But the momentum favors mainstreaming: Younger generations inherit these norms as default, pushing further from there.
Woke isn't dying — it's winning by becoming invisible, the new establishment norm. The Right's fury is understandable; what was once a battle cry is now boardroom policy. Feminism itself, in my opinion is enough to collapse civilisation in the longer term, but woke takes even this to a new level.
https://chroniclesmagazine.org/editorials/the-woke-left-is-far-from-defeated/
