Esa's Notebook

A study published this year in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology by Oskari Laitinen, a Finnish psychology researcher, found that attitudes towards critical social justice (wokeism) differ significantly between women and men. Women are more aware than the men, in this study mainly university students. In February 2024, The Financial Times published a study showing that young women are increasingly liberal in their values and young men are increasingly conservative at the same time. Differences in values have been described as dividing Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, in two.

The wave of wokeism has swept through many institutions of society in the United States, such as universities, schools, kindergartens, workplaces. However, its sharpest tip may be folding. In Finland, the development of wokeism has not been as strong, and it may be that the Finnish intelligentsia is still in the boom phase of wokeism.

In a way, wokeism is a remnant of 70’s Marxism, and its ideological goals are similar to those of Marxism: to give back power to those excluded from the center of power and let them dominate society by the monopoly of the marginalized.

Wokeism has eaten society from the inside. It has, intentionally or unintentionally, torn apart the institutions of families. Women no longer find their place in the traditional family, and families have broken up due to loose relationships. Children have been trapped somewhere between parental power struggles, without the authority and security of their father or mother. Children are deprived of a safe childhood. Even before puberty, they are expected to become aware of gender diversity and their own sexuality and to embrace – mostly maternal – induced genre ideology and gender liberalization. The responsibility for raising children and young people has been shifted from parents to teachers.

Authorities no longer exist. In families, schools, workplaces, authority  – those who can dictate and say what to do –  is no longer allowed or valued. Or an authority today is considered to be the person who has the best grasp of the terminology and clichés of gender diversity and who thinks globally in a left-wing way. Those who think otherwise are in turn driven from the center of power to the periphery, and subordinated to feminism and trans ideology.

While wokeism, feminism, the left-wing and green movements, and climate alarmism are characteristically ideologies cultivated by women, men have moved in an increasingly value-conservative direction. For men, traditional values and the stability of society are important. Men increasingly value the nuclear family, Christian values and right-wing politics. Men’s attitudes towards environmental issues, immigration, the allocation of social benefits, the gender income gap and military defense are becoming more conservative. This may have significance for future political development in Finland and globally.