{"id":80054,"date":"2022-09-23T15:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T19:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=80054"},"modified":"2022-10-05T10:53:57","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T14:53:57","slug":"woke-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are woke companies? Why are they facing backlash from society currently? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book, Woke, Inc.<\/em>, Vivek Ramaswamy outlines the rise of woke culture<\/a> and how it has contributed to what he calls “Wokenomics.” According to him, woke companies rely on progressive politics and virtue signaling<\/a> to turn a profit under false pretenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on for a full overview of the problems with woke companies, according to Ramaswamy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy on Woke Companies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy argues that corporations have devised an elaborate scam: advertising a hollow fight for social justice in order to reap unprecedented profit and power. Ramaswamy calls this fusion of progressive ideals and capitalism<\/a> \u201cWokenomics.\u201d By engaging in Wokenomics, these “woke companies” go beyond selling a product; they are selling Americans a new standard for the right way to think and live. He contends that their false alliance with social causes allows them to influence legislation, manipulate consumers, and silence dissent. He argues that Wokenomics\u2019s deceptive practices are weakening democracy\u2014polarizing citizens and concentrating political power in the hands of a small group of corporate elites<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating from Harvard and Yale, interning at infamous companies like Goldman Sachs, and founding his own biopharmaceutical company, Roivant Sciences, Ramaswamy claims he has personally witnessed the infiltration of Wokenomics and recounts his experiences in his book, Woke, Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Is a Woke Company Harmful?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy focuses his criticism on identity politics<\/a> in the workplace<\/strong>. He argues that by proclaiming to care about race and gender, companies transform into entities that profess to have a sense of morality but which are only using such claims to obscure their true goal of making as much money as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Companies Take a Stance <\/strong>

What are the concrete methods companies use to appear woke or advocate for woke policies? There are two main ways companies can demonstrate their support for a cause: visually aligning the company with the cause and leveraging money behind the cause: <\/strong><\/a>

Visual alignment<\/strong> includes tactics like:
– Publishing an affirmative statement on social media
– Including representation in ad campaigns (a homosexual couple in a commercial, a person of color in a magazine spread, and so on)
– Hiring brand ambassadors who are known activists 
– Signing related petitionsDeveloping a community outreach branch at their company 

Leveraging money<\/strong> includes tactics like:
– Cutting ties with a business on the opposite side or a state with opposing views<\/a>
– Donating to third-party, activist groups 
– Openly praising or backing a political candidate

Statistics indicate that these efforts are mostly profitable. While navigating controversy is always risky for a company, its involvement in social issues usually results in a significant boost in consumer approval. <\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Problem of Virtue Signaling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy\u2019s main objection to wokeness is that consumers come to believe that companies are actually invested in resolving social injustice when in reality, they\u2019re engaging in disingenuous virtue signaling<\/em>. Virtue signaling is a public demonstration of good character.<\/strong> For example, when a person volunteers at a charity event, they might post pictures of their service online for other people to see and to think of them as a good person. When an individual engages in virtue signaling, it may be self-serving but it doesn\u2019t do much harm to others. However, when a company participates in virtue signaling, it\u2019s a marketing ploy<\/strong> to take advantage of socially conscious consumers and can do harm to a considerably larger number of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better Known as Woke-Washing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Companies using virtue signaling is not new. Eighteenth-century economist and philosopher Adam Smith claimed that virtue signaling becomes necessary as the market grows.<\/strong><\/a> When people rely on several different businesses to provide goods and services, it\u2019s not feasible for consumers to deeply evaluate the merit of each one\u2014from the quality of their products to the ethics of their practices. Instead, consumers can search for particular indicators.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) rates a business’s trustworthiness. If a business gets accredited by the BBB, then consumers know the company has met certain standards and requirements. If a business advertises that the BBB gave them a high rating to garner customers\u2019 trust, this is a form of virtue signaling.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with using wokeness as virtue signaling is that the concept of woke is so loosely defined and there are no standards for companies to uphold. They can do as little as send a tweet or as much as start their own charities, but both would be considered woke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social activists already have a term for this specific combination of woke businesses and virtue signaling. \u201cWoke-washing<\/strong><\/a>” is when companies champion social causes while contributing to no meaningful change, or worse, actively making social inequities worse. To contend with woke-washing, advocates hold hypocritical companies accountable through social media and raise awareness through services like the Anti-Racism Daily<\/a> and BuyPartisan<\/a> on more productive ways to promote change.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By presenting as woke, companies attempt to accrue enough blind loyalty from consumers that they can distract them from scandal or controversy. For example, after the 2010 BP oil spill, woke consumers were unhappy with how environmentally irresponsible many companies were. Dawn dish soap began an ad campaign in response to the outrage, sending thousands of bottles down to the Gulf of Mexico and running commercials of baby ducks being saved by their product. Dawn became synonymous with wildlife protection efforts; little ducks still don their bottles a decade later. Ironically, Dawn dish soap is petroleum-based, and their company is part of the reason that we are so dependent on oil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy asserts that once companies like Dawn create this noble reputation for themselves, consumers are not likely to investigate the company\u2019s practices or policies further. The trust companies develop turns us into lazy citizens, simply accepting when companies say they are working in our best interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Do Woke Companies Operate?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy writes that a company engaging in any way with progressive values<\/strong> is woke and strays from his ideal of apolitical capitalism. He highlights what he contends are the worst ways that Wokenomics is applied to American society, including diversity training and censorship, boycotting, and submitting to foreign, undemocratic countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity Training and Censorship <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ramaswamy contends that diversity training is a way for a company to inflate its efforts of making internal changes while never having to implement any actual practices. <\/strong>These trainings often teach about sexual harassment, LBGTQ+ inclusion, or anti-racist practices. While they may have some educational value for employees, they do not guarantee that the company will hire more marginalized identities, create safe spaces for them, nor donate to related causes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: To be clear, Ramaswamy isn\u2019t suggesting that companies reconcile this disconnect between what they say<\/em> they do and what they actually<\/em> do by changing their actual hiring practices and inclusion policies. His argument is that such policies are unnecessary because prioritizing a workforce of diverse identities isn\u2019t needed to make a company successful. He recommends, instead, that they simply stop pretending they\u2019re making these changes.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argues that diversity training not only allows companies to avoid making real change, but it also leads to other harms: It silences dissenting voices both at work and outside of the workplace, and it diverts resources from more effective avenues of reform.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silencing dissenting voices at work: <\/strong>Corporate executives use diversity training to force their ideals on workers and pressure them to conform. Employees with dissenting views might be afraid of losing their jobs if they voice their opinion. For example, if a company installs new, single-stall, gender-neutral bathrooms, employees who may not agree with that decision might not want to voice opposing opinions lest they be met with backlash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Human resources experts advise that to create an environment in which workers feel comfortable expressing their views while at the same time, promoting diversity and inclusion, companies should clearly define the difference between opinion and harassment<\/a>, which can include discrimination or hate speech. They should also emphasize the importance of fostering respect among coworkers, not just diversity.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silencing dissenting voices outside the workplace:<\/strong> When corporations market their use of diversity training to appear woke, they\u2019ll often forbid their employees from expressing an \u201cun-woke\u201d idea on social media\u2014outside the workplace\u2014because it mars their public image. Take InterActive Corp employee Justine Stucco, who famously tweeted about her whiteness making her immune to catching AIDS in Africa and was subsequently fired because InterActive didn\u2019t want to employ someone considered racist. Ramaswamy argues that the company shouldn’t have fired her, as employees should be able to say what they want in their private time and spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Consequence of Cancel Culture<\/strong>

In the novel So You\u2019ve Been Publicly Shamed<\/em><\/a>, journalist Jon Ronson explains that while cancel culture<\/em> may have begun with good intentions, the consequences of canceling someone can be destructive<\/strong>. Cancel culture is a phenomenon in which people direct mass disapproval toward someone in an attempt to punish them for offensive speech or behaviors. 

The medium in which cancel culture occurs is almost always social media. Social media gives power to voices that have historically been stifled or ignored. Activists can use social media to exert enough pressure to take down titans like Harvey Weinstein, who was so well connected in Hollywood, few people dared to speak against him. The #MeToo movement<\/a> empowered women victimized by him to speak out and bring him to justice. 

However, Ronson explains that the unregulated nature of cancel culture means that the power can easily be abused. When a person is fired or accused of a crime, they are usually given some form of due process, but cancel culture sentences people immediately and severely.

While public figures like Weinstein might have the resources to defend themselves, everyday people like Justine Stucco (of Ramaswamy\u2019s discussion) won\u2019t, and it can strip them of their job, friends, and social standing. This form of justice is arbitrary and at times, disproportionate to the perceived transgression. Ronson reiterates that positive social change cannot stem from this kind of cancel culture. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Diverting resources from more effective avenues of reform: <\/strong>Companies often deploy expensive diversity training directly after a major controversy or social outcry. This trend suggests that companies are only using the training to put on a performance of demonstrating that they\u2019ve taken measures toward social good. Ramaswamy argues that if companies actually want to make positive social changes, they should focus on making better products instead. For example, if a company that makes women\u2019s fitness apparel came under scrutiny for sexism in the workplace, Ramaswamy asserts that training on anti-sexism would be less beneficial than focusing on creating a product<\/a> that helps women everywhere.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ineffective Diversity Training<\/strong>

Daniel Goleman, psychologist and author of Emotional Intelligence<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> agrees with Ramaswamy\u2019s assessment that most diversity workshops don\u2019t create legitimate social change within a company or society.<\/strong> However, Goleman contends that implementing true social change does bring benefits: Companies gain a competitive advantage<\/a> by employing people from a variety of different backgrounds. Furthermore, for these diverse companies to foster productive employees and create better products, prejudice in the workplace needs to be taken seriously. A company can\u2019t function efficiently if employees don\u2019t believe the workplace is a safe environment for them. 

For inclusion efforts to be meaningful, Goleman argues that companies can\u2019t just mandate a diversity training session that lasts for a day or weekend. This short time span makes the exercise seem like an inconsequential hoop to jump through. Additionally, discussing issues like racism or sexism can be emotionally taxing for employees, and a superficial meeting doesn\u2019t justify bringing up such intense emotions.

Goleman suggests that corporations should instead establish long-term, company norms that foster a cooperative environment. <\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are woke companies? Why are they facing backlash from society currently? In his book, Woke, Inc., Vivek Ramaswamy outlines the rise of woke culture and how it has contributed to what he calls “Wokenomics.” According to him, woke companies rely on progressive politics and virtue signaling to turn a profit under false pretenses. Read on for a full overview of the problems with woke companies, according to Ramaswamy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":80075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,20,24],"tags":[758],"class_list":["post-80054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-ethics","category-society","tag-woke-inc","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nEverything Wrong With Woke Companies - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are woke companies and why are they facing backlash? Read a full overview of the problems with woke companies, according to Ramaswamy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What are woke companies and why are they facing backlash? Read a full overview of the problems with woke companies, according to Ramaswamy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-23T19:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-05T14:53:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1844\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1228\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\"},\"headline\":\"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-23T19:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-05T14:53:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/\"},\"wordCount\":2001,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Woke Inc.\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Ethics\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/\",\"name\":\"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-23T19:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-05T14:53:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"What are woke companies and why are they facing backlash? Read a full overview of the problems with woke companies, according to Ramaswamy.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg\",\"width\":1844,\"height\":1228},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\",\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emily Kitazawa\"},\"description\":\"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies - Shortform Books","description":"What are woke companies and why are they facing backlash? Read a full overview of the problems with woke companies, according to Ramaswamy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies","og_description":"What are woke companies and why are they facing backlash? Read a full overview of the problems with woke companies, according to Ramaswamy.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-09-23T19:01:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-10-05T14:53:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1844,"height":1228,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emily Kitazawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Kitazawa","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily Kitazawa","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb"},"headline":"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies","datePublished":"2022-09-23T19:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-05T14:53:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/"},"wordCount":2001,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg","keywords":["Woke Inc."],"articleSection":["Business","Ethics","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/","name":"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-23T19:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-05T14:53:57+00:00","description":"What are woke companies and why are they facing backlash? Read a full overview of the problems with woke companies, according to Ramaswamy.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg","width":1844,"height":1228},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/woke-companies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Everything Wrong With Woke Companies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb","name":"Emily Kitazawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emily Kitazawa"},"description":"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/store-signs-in-time-square.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80054"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80283,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80054\/revisions\/80283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}