Are culture wars really a distraction? | Olufemi O Taiwo

We shouldn't abandon the culture wars, but we shouldn't take the bait either. We should build a political culture built around mutual goals

In the United States, fights are raging over cultural issues: constant coverage of cancel culture", pitched battles over teaching critical race theory" (CRT) in classrooms or the definition of the term woman". For years, many on the left have argued that such battles were distractions" from the real fight over class and economic issues. They are only half right.

These supposed sham battles are simply the most recent moments in a loosely organized cultural rightwing insurgency. The Federalist Society has been incubating rightwing legal careers since the 1980s. The fight against critical race theory continues a longstanding rightwing offensive against public education, whose roots go back as far as the backlash to racially integrated schooling.

Olufemi Taiwo is assistant professor of philosophy at Georgetown University and author of Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)