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Can anyone recommend a left-wing analysis of how economic Marxism* seemingly got supplanted by "woke" or "bioleninist" Marxism in the U.S.? I'm interested in learning (1) what caused the shift, (2) a history of the shift itself, and (3) how economic Marxists view this change (i.e. how would they describe the phenomenon in Marxist language).
The transition to a service economy.
Less factory work, and more of it offshore and insulated. Increased credentialism and changing costs to education. The trailing effects of three decades of suburbanization hollowing out cities. Union socialism was on the wane even before Thatcher. Combine this with the economic and strategic prosperity of 90s America and socialism looks pretty unappealing.
I really don’t think social justice has much ideological continuity with Marxism. There was very neoliberal lull in the 90s and 00s until the crash made “eating the rich” cool again. Identity politics didn’t get nearly as much traction from that. I know some commenters are going to point to Cultural Marxism and the obvious alliance of woke and socialist activists. But I’m convinced that this is convergent evolution. Both economic and cultural Marxism want to be framed as counter-establishment. Sticking it to the Man, as it were. (See also certain elements on the far right—the kind of things that people cite as horseshoe theory.) That leads to common cause where SJWs try to make themselves palatable to tankies, and vice versa.
No idea what the credentialed Marxists would say about this.
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