Understanding "Woke" Ideology: Books by Yascha Mounk and Chris Rufo

In this episode of ARI Bookshelf, Sam Weaver, Ben Bayer, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ibis Slade critically examine America’s Cultural Revolution by Christopher Rufo and The Identity Trap by Yascha Mounk.

Among the topics covered:
● 0:00 - Introduction
● 7:44 - Nature of “woke” ideology
● 14:46 - “Domino” view of ideological influence
● 23:38 - Influence of right-wing ideas
● 30:43 - Rufo’s authoritarianism
● 38:30 - Mounk’s egalitarianism and collectivism
● 52:34 - Books’ perspectives on real injustices
● 59:18 - Merits of Mounk’s book
● 1:04:18 - Weakness of Rufo’s critiques
● 1:08:15 - Rufo’s un-American tribalism
● 1:14:55 - Influence of postmodern epistemology
● 1:27:41 - Why “woke” ideology isn’t Marxism
● 1:37:19 - Final thoughts

Resources:
● Ayn Rand’s essay “The Left: Old and New” https://courses.aynrand.org/works/the...
● Rand’s book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology https://aynrand.org/novels/introducti...
● Leonard Peikoff’s book The DIM Hypothesis https://www.amazon.com/Dim-Hypothesis...

This episode was recorded on October 3, 2025, and posted on October 10, 2025.

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