Great Antidote Deep Dive: Brian Knight on Woke Capitalism

wokism ideology mercatus center corporations woke capitalism

Brian Knight and Juliette Sellgren

Host Juliette Sellgren digs into the good and bad of "Woke Capitalism," Twitter's Trump Ban, Parler's Suspension, Disney's Fight with Gov. DeSantis and more with guest Brian Knight.

Brian Knight, director of Innovation and Governance and a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, talks to us today about woke capitalism.

Knight begins by expressing concerns with the politically polarizing use of the word “woke,” but goes on to define the problem as the use of corporate power to make a change outside of the corporation's usual area of concern. Knight’s example is the difference between an oil company trying to influence environmental regulations that will affect their business and an oil company trying to affect something further from their core business interests like voting regulations. Sellgren asks him to talk about recent high-profile cases and whether and to what extent these represent “woke capitalism” and what dangers they present

To find out Knight’s takes and Sellgren’s follow-ups, give it a listen.

Important questions they discuss include:

Is anyone being harmed?
Who is being harmed?
How are they being harmed?
Is the harm the type of thing that the state should take notice of (legally cognizable) or not?
What are the potential responses (including no response)?
What is the minimally invasive response to mitigate the harm?

You’ll also hear Knight talk about one thing he wants young people to know (it doesn’t always happen the way you want! And that can be good too) and something he’s changed his mind about (markets are good but not the only good).

Listen to this episode

Brian Knight on Woke Capitalism | Adam Smith Works

The guest: Brian Knight