Elite Capture and Identity Politics
The Problem with "Woke Capitalism"
Republicans are concerned about a "woke corporate agenda."
The real issue isn't corporations caring about racial or gender justice.
It's that they pretend to care to protect their wealth and power.
The focus should be on the corporate elite's power over working people.
Corporate actions rarely change anything for working people.
The far right opposes "woke capital" because they see social justice as a threat to big business.
Even establishment politicians use "woke" language to defend their corporate backers.
Breaking up big banks wouldn't necessarily end social issues like racism or sexism.
The question is how working people can fight back against corporations and politicians who co-opt social movement language.
Can identity politics be salvaged?
What is Identity Politics?
Identity politics is often misused and misunderstood.
It was originally coined by Black feminists in the 1970s.
They were excluded from both the Black Power Movement and the women's liberation movement.
They wanted to participate fully in political life.
Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor: Black women couldn't be expected to be active in movements that didn't represent their interests.
Identity politics thus served as entry points for Black women to engage in politics.
In modern jargon, identity politics are often seen as a distraction from class struggle.
The Combahee River Collective, who created the term, were socialists.
They believed recognizing needs based on identities was part of building power for the working class.
Identities and class position were intertwined.
The needs of oppressed communities aren't obstacles but ways to build solidarity.
Example: 1980s Lesbians and Gays Support Miners movement.
1930s-1960s: Labor unions were powerful voices against racial segregation.
As solidarity increased, movements for workers' rights, women's rights, gay rights, and civil rights won victories.
Conservatives launched efforts to destroy working-class solidarity in response.
The Right to Work movement, started by Vance Muse, aimed to destroy unions.
Muse's racist rhetoric: unionization would force white people to associate with Black people.
Today, the wealthy and powerful use "identity politics" to dismiss anything they consider too Black, queer, or feminine.
Elite Capture of Identity Politics
The question: How did identity politics become a favorite of corporations like Pepsi and Starbucks?
The answer: Elite capture.
Elites have advantages in specific areas (land, resources, skill).
The degree of control elites have depends on inequality and how effective non-elites are in demanding fairness.
Elite capture involves redirecting resources and institutions meant for the many towards the interests of the few.
Examples of Elite Capture
CEO of JPMorgan taking a knee without addressing systemic issues.
Washington, D.C., opening Black Lives Matter Plaza while police were harming Black residents.
Corporations posting LGBTQ+ messages during Pride Month.
Corporations captured identity politics because they saw its value and found a way to make it work for them.
Example: Society as a house with rooms, some accessible only to certain groups.
Resources flow to the nicest room at the top, where elites make decisions.
Elites feel pressure to acknowledge inequality but don't want to lose power.
They use the language of identity politics, recognize marginalized demographics, but don't change the structure.
They might even pass the mic to those people.
Deference Politics: Asking us to defer to others in the room who come from more marginalized identities and to believe the act of listening to the people who represent those communities in the room is the solution.
Claiming to care about marginalized voices can be a way to maintain wealth and power.
REI using progressive language while discouraging unionization.
Starbucks promoting healthcare benefits for trans employees but threatening to take them away during a union push.
Amazon using charities supporting Black business owners to argue against antitrust laws.
Moving Beyond Elite Capture
Focusing on representation alone isn't enough.
We need new structures and systems.
Learning about privilege and organizing with shared identities is valuable.
But deference politics won't threaten the global elite.
Instead of identity politics, we need constructive politics focused on positive outcomes for working people.
Start with identity, but arrive at solidarity.
Acknowledge differences, but connect through similarities.
Solidarity: Recognizing mutual interests, shared humanity, and shared adversaries.
Accepting that our fates are intertwined.
Solidarity is key to successful labor union organizing.
It's important to defend all communities, not just one.
Solidarity unites working people against the corporate elite and isn't satisfied with symbolic victories.
Solidarity fights for an equitable distribution of wealth and power.
We need to identify what's dividing us: far-right media, establishment politicians, and big corporations.
The goal should be a truly equitable multiracial democracy instead of a "rainbow oligarchy."
Once we realize who is dividing us, we can work towards solidarity and real economic justice.
in class, may 14 2025
You can study philosophy in everything, as long as you get into the foundational levels
Questions to ask:
What motivated you to write Elite Capture? Was there anything specific going on at the time you wrote the book?
What are key details that tell us a movement or cause has been taken over by elites? Do you have any examples?
Do you think your views have shifted since the book was published?
He still largely stands by his views, but one thing he was harsher on that he kind of regrets is the representation of being in the room. His criticism of not believing that we should be happy that only one poc was in the room.
What was the hardest part of writing Elite Capture?
standpoint of histomolgy —> long set of debates with standard histomology and not thinking of social structures to use, and other people trying to push away from that, it was difficult for him to try and share his views on disagreements