The Third Awokening: A 12-Point Plan for Rolling Back Progressive Extremism

by Eric Kaufmann

Woke is not a fad but a cultural revolution—a movement that can only be stopped by a drastic intervention in our institutions and culture.

We in the West are in the third wave of cultural-left ideological enthusiasm. Each “Awokening” has crested, fallen a little, consolidated, then surged again to reach a higher level. The cumulative result is an elite creed which has produced a crime wave, a worsening education system, chaos at the border, and social division. Fired by a cultural socialism that puts equal results and emotional protection for minorities at the center of their moral universe, today’s young people are twice as intolerant of conservative speech as older generations. These young people will be the median voters and employees of tomorrow, leading and controlling the country. Woke cultural socialism is not the classical liberalism of the American Constitution, but a modern “majorities bad, minorities good” Left-liberalism. It is powered by a set of ‘liberal’ emotional attachments rather than liberal principles. These underpin a moral panic about whites and males combined with a starry-eyed patronizing approach to minorities.

Today’s woke extremism is not a repudiation of liberalism, but a perverse extension of it. Our only way out is to use elected, constitutional, government power to break the grip of wokeness in our institutions and schools, steering them toward neutrality and classical liberalism. To do so, the conservative and moderate majority must place culture front and center and spare no effort to win the battle of ideas. Nothing less than the future of our civilization depends on it.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Cultural, Political Science, Philosophy, Sociology, History

418 pages, Paperback

Published May 13, 2024

About the author

Eric Peter Kaufmann is a Canadian professor of politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is a specialist on Orangeism in Northern Ireland, nationalism, political demography and demography of the religious/irreligious.

Reviews

[Michael Milburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A more sophisticated book than suggested by the title (which wasn’t chosen by the author). Marxism merely offers the supply for which liberalism presents the demand. I was less interested in the proposed solutions.

[Jo Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve only read selected extracts as the whole book has not been issued yet but I loved what I read. So clear, succinct and eloquently written.

[Rodrigo Jungmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talvez o melhor sobre o tema seja este aqui.

[Joshua Friesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Common sense ain't common.