From Newsgroup: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy

A friendly critique of Rob HendersonrCOs theory of rCLluxury beliefsrCY


In April 2014, I wrote an article on the economics of woke. I did not
use that word yet: I still used the now quaint-sounding term rCLpolitical correctnessrCY, which has since largely fallen out of use. But I predicted that what we now call rCLwokerCY was going to get a lot worse.

And so it did. As Prof Michael Clune from Case Western Reserve
University points out in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

rCLStarting around 2014, many disciplines [rCa] changed their mission. Professors began to see the traditional values and methods of their
fields [rCa] as complicit in histories of oppression. As a result, many professors and fields began to reframe their work as a kind of political activism.rCY

Indeed. I just had a look at Google Books Ngram Viewer, to check the
relative frequency with which certain terms typically associated with
woke ideology appear in the literature, and how this has changed over
time. Since 2014, the use of the term rCLwhite privilegerCY has almost doubled, while the use of rCLwhite supremacyrCY, rCLislamophobiarCY, rCLtransphobiarCY and rCLintersectionalityrCY has more than doubled. Use of the
trendy term rCLRacial CapitalismrCY has increased sevenfold, and rCLwhite fragilityrCY, the title of the bestselling book by Robin DiAngelo (2018),
has increased twentyfold. Curiously, the use of the term rCLracismrCY has rCLonlyrCY increased one-and-a-half-fold, although from an already much
higher base. Other people have found similar results (see here https://davidrozado.substack.com/p/ppdwnmd and here https://insider.iea.org.uk/p/the-year-the-world-went-woke

My argument in 2014 was that woke beliefs had become what economists
call rCLpositional goodsrCY, and which, in everyday language, we call rCLstatus symbolsrCY: goods which people use in order to signal a high standing in a social hierarchy. The displaying of positional goods is
what economists call rCLconspicuous consumptionrCY, and which normal people call rCLshowing offrCY.

My argument was that conspicuous consumption did not have to involve the display of physical goods: rC>the flaunting of high-status opinions could
be just as much a form of conspicuous consumption as the flaunting of
Rolex watches. On that basis, I predicted an accelerating
status-signalling arms race, in which people would try to out-woke each
other in a competitive display of high-status opinions. This has
happened, in the form of what we now call rCLthe Great AwokeningrCY. rC>

In the meantime...

https://insider.iea.org.uk/p/high-status-opinions-vs-luxury-beliefs
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From Newsgroup: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy

On Tue, 26 Aug 2025 17:46:56 +0100, Julian <julianlzb87@gmail.com>
wrote:

A friendly critique of Rob HendersonAs theory of oluxury beliefso

In April 2014, I wrote an article on the economics of woke. I did not
use that word yet: I still used the now quaint-sounding term opolitical >correctnesso, which has since largely fallen out of use. But I predicted >that what we now call owokeo was going to get a lot worse.

And so once again the corpse of woke is dug up so it can be ravaged.

And so it did. As Prof Michael Clune from Case Western Reserve
University points out in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

oStarting around 2014, many disciplines [a] changed their mission. >Professors began to see the traditional values and methods of their
fields [a] as complicit in histories of oppression. As a result, many >professors and fields began to reframe their work as a kind of political >activism.o

Indeed. I just had a look at Google Books Ngram Viewer, to check the >relative frequency with which certain terms typically associated with
woke ideology appear in the literature, and how this has changed over
time. Since 2014, the use of the term owhite privilegeo has almost
doubled, while the use of owhite supremacyo, oislamophobiao,
otransphobiao and ointersectionalityo has more than doubled. Use of the >trendy term oRacial Capitalismo has increased sevenfold, and owhite >fragilityo, the title of the bestselling book by Robin DiAngelo (2018),
has increased twentyfold. Curiously, the use of the term oracismo has
oonlyo increased one-and-a-half-fold, although from an already much
higher base. Other people have found similar results (see here >https://davidrozado.substack.com/p/ppdwnmd and here >https://insider.iea.org.uk/p/the-year-the-world-went-woke

My argument in 2014 was that woke beliefs had become what economists
call opositional goodso, and which, in everyday language, we call
ostatus symbolso: goods which people use in order to signal a high
standing in a social hierarchy. The displaying of positional goods is
what economists call oconspicuous consumptiono, and which normal people
call oshowing offo.

My argument was that conspicuous consumption did not have to involve the >display of physical goods: ?the flaunting of high-status opinions could
be just as much a form of conspicuous consumption as the flaunting of
Rolex watches. On that basis, I predicted an accelerating
status-signalling arms race, in which people would try to out-woke each >other in a competitive display of high-status opinions. This has
happened, in the form of what we now call othe Great Awokeningo. ?

In the meantime...

https://insider.iea.org.uk/p/high-status-opinions-vs-luxury-beliefs

--
Noah Sombrero mustachioed villain
Don't get political with me young man
or I'll tie you to a railroad track and
<<<talk>>> to <<<YOOooooo>>>
Who dares to talk to El Sombrero?
dares: Ned
does not dare: Julian shrinks in horror and warns others away

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