Corporate Social Re-Purposing

Woke corporate social responsibility has become a flimsy substitute for traditional spheres of civil society. While ungluing the bonds of community, people push the business arena to provide meaning by demanding it must ‘change the world.’

Everyone from Ben and Jerry’s to Pepsi opines from behind their sugary treats about the dangers of fossil fuels or racism.

These CSR initiatives could be on the rise because companies believe they must embrace certain causes to obtain a social license to operate — or they could simply be cynically exploiting woke trends for profits.

Various companies promise — if you join them — you can “shape a world where people and communities thrive.” Alternatively, you could “inspire confidence and empower change in so many different ways.”

These slogans seem harmless — vacuous even. But they reveal how the workplace has transformed from a way to earn a living to a central component of one’s identity and purpose.

Millennials are more likely to “want to work for companies that align with their own internal values.” And, according to the latest in ‘corporate wellness trends’ – if companies want to attract the top millennial talent they need “to define their purpose and demonstrate how they give back to society.”

These demands for purpose are embraced by CEOs — who increasingly see the role of corporations as “improving our society.”

These trends are unlikely to change soon because — despite the catchy ‘Get Woke Go Broke’ warnings —  some findings suggest “woke corporate policies do little to positively or negatively impact a company’s bottom line.”

This means Woke CSR initiatives could continue to slowly replace various areas of civil society in which people used to derive meaning – the family, religion, hobbies, or charity work.

This is not only detrimental to society, but to the individual. If you see your job as a tool for the wholesale transformation of society, when that job is gone  the void it leaves could be almost unbearable.

Placing woke politics at the center of your identity does not leave much space left for anything else.