We Have Never Been Woke

The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite

De: Musa al-Gharbi

Narrado por: Musa al-Gharbi

How a new “woke” elite uses the language of social justice to gain more power and status—without helping the marginalized and disadvantaged

Society has never been more egalitarian—in theory. Prejudice is taboo, and diversity is strongly valued. At the same time, social and economic inequality have exploded. In We Have Never Been Woke, Musa al-Gharbi argues that these trends are closely related, each tied to the rise of a new elite—the symbolic capitalists. In education, media, nonprofits, and beyond, members of this elite work primarily with words, ideas, images, and data, and are very likely to identify as allies of antiracist, feminist, LGBTQ, and other progressive causes. Their dominant ideology is “wokeness” and, while their commitment to equality is sincere, they actively benefit from and perpetuate the inequalities they decry. Indeed, their egalitarian credentials help them gain more power and status, often at the expense of the marginalized and disadvantaged.

We Have Never Been Woke details how the language of social justice is increasingly used to justify this elite—and to portray the losers in the knowledge economy as deserving their lot because they think or say the “wrong” things about race, gender, and sexuality. Al-Gharbi’s point is not to accuse symbolic capitalists of hypocrisy or cynicism. Rather, he examines how their genuine beliefs prevent them from recognizing how they contribute to social problems—or how their actions regularly provoke backlash against the social justice causes they champion.

A powerful critique, We Have Never Been Woke reveals that only by challenging this elite’s self-serving narratives can we hope to address social and economic inequality effectively.

“In this important and timely book, Musa al-Gharbi describes the rise of the ‘symbolic capitalists,’ and how an ideology has evolved to cement their power and restrict entry from outsiders. We Have Never Been Woke effectively addresses a wide readership on this contentious issue.”—Tyler Cowen, George Mason University

©2024 Musa al-Gharbi (P)2024 Recorded Books

Clear-eyed reasoning backed by rigorous research

Professor al-Gharbi presents compelling arguments and evidence to show how those who claim with the loudest voices to represent the needs of the poor and marginalized are more out of touch with the actual needs of those people than the current populists.

The professor doesn’t prescribe changes to help bring actions into alignment with speech; instead, he simply rips the scales from the eyes of symbolic and totemic capitalists to reveal how they have been gaslighting themselves and their allies for decades with rhetoric that doesn’t match their actions, and how that alienates the very classes of people they most fervently claim they want to help.

Best nonfiction book ever

Drop everything you’re doing and read this now. Easy to read and explains so much about America today.

Title is rough, the book isn’t!

First book of 2025 that I’ve read and I loved it! It was well worth the high claims of its recommending!

Wish the author had a professional narrator

I love the ideas in this book but I desperately wish they had a pro narrator do it. The author’s reading voice is so hollow and monotonous that it makes this already heady book more difficult to get through

Food for thought - not food for action

It was an interesting listen. There were some thoughts that were new to me shared here. I am left wondering what to do about it, which he acknowledged solution proposals are not in this book. I think he should taken some of his own advice and hired a professional to do the reading for the audiobook. This was an opportunity to share the wealth that would have made the product better most likely.

Insightful view into “symbolic capitalists”

The author explores “awokenings”, covering the instantiation, motivation, and impacts of these events. The book seems to obliquely reference McWhorter’s latest book, while providing in some ways a more satisfying explanation for similarly observed phenomenon.

This book is a fairly advanced reading level and academic text, including a review of Marxism and critical theories.

Despite mentioning Piketty, I think the author is too dismissive of what is labeled the “super-elite”, eliding the moral and practical differences between earned income and the vast sums of inherited wealth.

The author narration is enjoyable, though at times it is clear the distance from the microphone varied during edits.

We have never been woke

It reads like a dagger to my heart and the life I have read up until now.

An Important Voice

Great scholarship and incredibly important critique of prevailing and accepted twenty first century acceptable thinking of our society.

First class

This book presents a well-reasoned and well-presented view that establishes a clear structure for speaking and thinking about topics usually given as part of a morality play.

Smart and well developed thesis.

Easy to follow and thought provoking. A book all should read to make heads and tails of these times we live in.