Why are so many American corporations espousing progressive social views? It doesn’t seem to make much sense on its face. Companies that publicly endorse left-wing politics and internally subject employees to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, or DEI, initiatives risk alienating a huge portion of their customer base and excising talented staff to appease a vocal minority of progressive keyboard warriors.
As I write in my upcoming book, The Snowflakes’ Revolt, one major reason is that the woke left “create[s] a culture of fear in which everyone — including the adults who are supposed to be in charge — is terrified of stepping out of line and becoming a target of the bullies.” Activist employees and consumers alike threaten corporate leadership with public smear campaigns against the company and targeted personal destruction.
A recent paper cited by Dave Seminara in the Wall Street Journal reveals another, more insidious explanation for the corporate bow-down to the woke mob. The authors suggest that woke mid-level employees might be motivated by something more prudent than just an unfailing loyalty to their toxic political ideology: job security.
“In the context of woke policies, middle managers have specialized knowledge, may control critical aspects of the firm’s internal and external communications, and are often shielded from effective internal review due to the lack of metrics for woke performance,” Nicolai J. Foss at Copenhagen Business School and Peter G. Klein at Baylor University write. “Embracing wokeness can thus provide authority, job security, and career opportunities.”
Middle-management and HR types thus take advantage of corporate woke initiatives to reduce their dispensability.
Corporate leaders are sensitive to the fact that mere outward displays of wokeness — think rainbow logos during Pride Month — are not sufficient to satisfy progressive employees. So when these low- to mid-level staff members demand an expansion of internal DEI programs, corporations are happy to comply and put woke staff members in charge. In turn, woke staff expand their responsibilities, increase their earning potential and entrench DEI in the corporate culture.
It’s a rather brilliant way for otherwise unremarkable employees to increase their corporate status.
In addition to the fear of negative PR for the company, corporate leaders may also go along with DEI initiatives because they’re worried about the potential for lawsuits if they say no. Bosses who repeatedly refuse diversity trainings, social justice seminars and affirmative action hiring policies may be accused of perpetuating a hostile work environment. This could cost the company greatly in legal fees and in the ability to hire and retain other employees.
As Gail Heriot, a law professor and civil rights expert at the University of San Diego School of Law told me, “I think we have this huge bureaucracy put in place in order to avoid not just hostile environments, but anything that could add up to a hostile environment.”
“They offer training on how to avoid offending your fellow colleague. And every year they got to come up with some new ideas in order to keep it going. And they do. They come up with ideas like micro-aggressions, and they train millions and millions of people every day, every year. And that has created part of the structure beneath wokeism, as it were,” Heriot said.
Even though a woke company culture can lead to performance decreases, consumer boycotts and a lack of innovation, corporate leaders are disincentivized from challenging the status quo. They could heroically save the company and unshackle their employees from DEI oppression by standing up to woke staff members. But it’s far more likely that they will be punished with job loss and severe reputational damage.
