From social awareness to authoritarian other
The conservative weaponization of woke in Canadian parliamentary discourse
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6084572 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Patrick Mccurdy (0000-0002-5764-6174), Kaitlin Clarke (0009-0000-0270-1909), Bart Cammaerts (0000-0002-9508-5128) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 910-933 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Language and Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1569-2159 • E-ISSN: 1569-9862 |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1075/jlp.24126.mcc |
| OpenAlex | W4406143571 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 25 |
This study examines the evolution of (anti)woke discourse in debates within the Canadian House of Commons from 2019 to 2023, analyzing how “conceptual flipsiding” and moral panic operate to transform democratic language into tools of illiberal politics. Our critical discourse analysis of Hansard transcripts identifies three key themes: the semantic shift of woke from social awareness to authoritarianism, the strategic redefinition of woke by Conservative MPs — led by party leader Pierre Poilievre — to construct a moral panic around an anti-Canadian ideological Other, and inadequate attempts by MPs from other parties to challenge this negative framing. We argue that the discursive weaponization of woke demonstrates how political actors appropriate and invert democratic language to advance illiberal agendas while maintaining democratic legitimacy. This Canadian case illuminates broader patterns in how democratic language is manipulated across national contexts while revealing how ineffective counter-frames can inadvertently legitimize anti-democratic action within democratic institutions
Authoritarianism · Critical discourse analysis · Democracy · Framing (construction · Ideology · Legitimacy · Moral panic · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Public Spaces through Art · Law
What is Political Discourse Analysis?
Policing the Crisis
Discourse Studies
Problematizing Canadian exceptionalism
Land of Woke and Glory? The Conceptualisation and Framing of “Wokeness” in UK Media and Public Discourses
Right-Wing Extremism in Canada
Moral Panics
Folk Devils and Moral Panics
Outsiders
An anatomy of the British war on woke
Introduction
Demonising Migrants in Contexts of Extremism
No Surrender. No Challenge. No Protest Paradigm
Policing Right-Wing Extremism in Canada
The abnormalisation of social justice
The hypervisibility and discourses of ‘wokeness’ in digital culture
Waking up to the ‘Anti-Woke’ agenda
Discourses and practices of the ‘New Normal
Thematic networks
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |