SHORTLISTED FOR THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2022
Does 'woke capitalism' improve capitalism's image or does it threaten
the future of democracy?
From Nike's support for Colin Kaepernick, to Gillette's engagement with
the toxic masculinity debate, the 21st century has seen a sharp increase
in corporations taking over public morality, a phenomenon which has come
to be known as 'woke capitalism'.
Carl Rhodes takes us on a lively and fascinating history of woke
capitalism - from 1950s corporate social responsibility, through 1980s
neoliberalism, tracing it alongside the adoption and mutation of the
term 'woke' from Black American culture - and brings us right up to
current-day debates.
By examining the political causes that woke capitalism has co-opted, and
the social causes that it has not, he argues that this surreptitious
extension of capitalism has serious implications for us all.