Woke Capitalism

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2022 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.