From the article: "What links these developments is a loose constellation of ideas that is changing the way that mostly white, educated, left-leaning Americans view the world."

It's moved from academic circles to "regular" middle-to-upper-middle class society for sure. You can argue that they're "elite" in some respects, but at the same time you're looking at an "elite" 30-40% of the population compared to the single-sigit percentage of people who espoused these beliefs 20 years ago.

'mostly white, educated, left-leaning Americans' is not the same as 'most white, educated, left-leaning Americans'

While you are semantically correct, you're ignoring the actual phenomenon that is being discussed.

Whether or not a literal majority of white, middle-class, left-leaning Americans believe in Critical Race Theory or The Patriarchy is irrelevant. 20 years ago it was only discussed in Academia, whereas now these theories hold a significant influence over many peoples' political, business and social lives.

While I agree that it's no longer confined to Liberal Arts departments, I don't agree that it has influence on many people's lives (although that depends on how we define 'many'.)

Wokeness is generally treated as a joke among virtually every American whose employment is not dependent on 'public opinion', SNL's Levi's Woke Jeans skit is a classic take on that.

I don't know whether politicians are catering to over the top wokeness in order to be all-inclusive for votes, or if they believe (because they let someone else do their homework) that the majority of their constituency demands it.

>Wokeness is generally treated as a joke among virtually every American whose employment is not dependent on 'public opinion'

I'm not American (in case the username didn't give that away!), but I have definitely seen "woke" culture infiltrate into people's lives, especially in the corporate context.

A couple of incidents people I know personally have experienced include a guy being fired after a dumb sexist joke made at height of #metoo (to be fair, he was socially retarded in general) and another guy whose joke email was forcibly retracted by HR for using Christian Imagery in an "Easter Celebration" message (this guy was not socially retarded; school captain in fact).

Compare and contrast to the blue collar guys I know who openly make racist/homophobic jokes to just about everyone.

Point is, maybe amongst the people you know, in the city that you live, "wokeness" is treated as a joke. But in corporate culture in Melbourne (Australian equivalent of Portland, OR), it's this looming, oppressive spectre.

If it's not a majority it's a very loud minority.

It really comes down to priorities. Are you rich? Then most of your needs are taken care of and you now need to search for something else to divert your attention.

Not rich? Need to worry about your job? Paying bills? Housing? Food? You have not fuckin time to care about anything else than to just survive.

I don't think it's that at all. There are plenty of tradies and other well-off groups without university education that just do not give a shit about this stuff.

And conversely, many starving artist types who care deeply.

> It didn't. It lives entirely in elite society. If you aren't a member of an elite social strata it doesn't impact you and nobody gives a damn.

That seems to be a highly reductive concept you're using for "elite", basically meaning "people you imagine who you don't agree with". What constitutes "elite", to you?

How about the row after row of suburban homes in Livermore with BLM signs? Those are all median income neighborhoods, but I'm guessing you'd call them "elite"?

How about an expensive golf club in Little Rock filled with upper income, mostly white, mostly male players working the local social environment? Not "elite", I'm guessing?

I'll note that the linked article doesn't engage in this kind of tribalism or reductionism, and is actually pretty clear about what it means by things like "woke". That's something you added to the discussion, and I don't think it works well.

>How about the row after row of suburban homes in Livermore with BLM signs? Those are all median income neighborhoods, but I'm guessing you'd call them "elite"?

If your interlocutor is an advanced-level mental gymnast, they will tell you that the people in these suburban homes are simply aping the customs of the so-called "elites", acting as their servants. So yes, "elite" in the post you're replying to really is being used to mean "people you imagine who you don't agree with".