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Author: Musa al-Gharbi

In Conversation with Shamus Khan

Sociologist Musa al-Gharbi, joined in conversation by Shamus Kahn, presents his new book "We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite."

About the book: 

"We Have Never Been Woke" details how the language of social justice is increasingly used to justify this elite—and to portray the losers in the knowledge economy as deserving their lot because they think or say the “wrong” things about race, gender, and sexuality. Al-Gharbi’s point is not to accuse symbolic capitalists of hypocrisy or cynicism. Rather, he examines how their genuine beliefs prevent them from recognizing how they contribute to social problems—or how their actions regularly provoke backlash against the social justice causes they champion. A powerful critique, "We Have Never Been Woke" reveals that only by challenging this elite’s self-serving narratives can we hope to address social and economic inequality effectively.

In Conversation:

Musa al-Gharbi is assistant professor of communication and journalism at Stony Brook University and the author of "We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite" (Princeton).In addition to his scholarly work, Dr. al-Gharbi is deeply committed to engaging with the public and institutional stakeholders on his domains of expertise. His work has been cited by a number of governmental and other organizations, including the Department of State, the Army War College and the Council on Foreign Relations, among others. He has consulted with nonprofits, corporate executives and policymakers in the U.S. and abroad. He is regularly tapped by journalists and media organizations to discuss current events, to include spots with NPR, CNN, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Voice of America and others.

Shamus Khan is Willard Thorp Professor of Sociology and American Studies at Princeton University. He writes on culture, inequality, gender, and elites. He is the author of over 100 articles, books, and essays, including "Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School" (Princeton), "The Practice of Research" (Oxford, with Dana Fisher), "Approaches to Ethnography: Modes of Representation and Analysis in Participant Observation" (Oxford, with Colin Jerolmack), and "Sexual Citizens: Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus" (W.W. Norton, with Jennifer Hirsch), which was named a best book of 2020 by NPR. He was a co-principal investigator of SHIFT, a multi-year study of sexual health and sexual violence at Columbia University. He directed the working group on the political influence of economic elites at the Russell Sage Foundation, is the series editor of “The Middle Range” at Columbia University Press, and served as the editor of the journal Public Culture. He writes regularly for the popular press such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and has served as a columnist for Time Magazine. In 2016 he was awarded Columbia University’s highest teaching honor, the Presidential Teaching Award, and in 2018 he was awarded the Hans L. Zetterberg Prize from Upsala University for “the best sociologist under 40”.

Presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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