By left I mean primarily the progressive/social-justice left rather than the liberal left, although I realize the boundary between the two is fuzzy.
And by culture war, I'm using the wikipedia definition:
"A culture war is a form of cultural conflict (metaphorical war) between different social groups who struggle to politically impose their own ideology upon mainstream society, or upon the other. In political usage, culture war is a metaphor for "hot-button" politics about values and ideologies, realized with intentionally adversarial social narratives meant to provoke political polarization among the mainstream of society over economic matters, such as those of public policy, as well as of consumption. As practical politics, a culture war is about social policy wedge issues that are based on abstract arguments about values, morality, and lifestyle meant to provoke political cleavage in a multicultural society."
Or more concisely: political and social conflict over values, morality, identity, lifestyle, and other culturally divisive issues, particularly when those disagreements become part of wider partisan conflict.
During roughly the early-to-mid 2010s and continuing into the early 2020s, progressive ideas became much more prominent in many parts of Western society. Attitudes and public discussion around identity, race, gender, sexuality, discrimination, and social justice generally experienced a sharp leftward turn, while concepts such as systemic racism, privilege, intersectionality, DEI, and gender identity became much more visible and influential in mainstream institutions (universities, corporations, entertainment media, nonprofit orgs, and government).
Some background on the period I’m referring to:
Woke - Broadening Usage - Wikipedia
[2304.01596v1] The Great Awokening as a Global Phenomenon - Arxiv
I know terms such as “woke” and “Great Awokening” can be controversial, or carry some baggage/be mainly used by critics or conservatives. I would like to note the terms themselves do not originate from a conservative, are used by some sociologists and analysts, and I’m using them here mainly as shorthand for the broader shift in attitudes and institutional practices.
A couple obvious examples of progressive positions becoming more mainstream: support for same-sex marriage (Obama ran *against* gay marriage in 2008), greater visibility and acceptance of trans people and promotion of trans-rights, advances in feminism and anti-racism in university and government boards (some 90%+ of researchers in social sciences identify as liberals/leftist, and the few conservatives express high rates of self-censorship), corporate Pride campaigns, DEI programs, diversity initiatives in hiring and education, and much greater public attention to representation and discrimination.
But in the last several years there has also been a noticeable backlash, and scores of politicians, companies and institutions that previously embraced social justice (the language and publicity, if not necessarily the policies and ideals) have, more or less, moderated or changed their attitude and approach.
So I’m curious how people here interpret the bigger picture. What's happening/changing?
I’d especially be interested in why you think so, and which areas or examples you think best demonstrate the trend.
EDIT: some may be less clear on what I mean by culture war, so here’s how I’m using the term;
The idea of “winning” here is which side is being more effective at propagating and entrenching their views and supporters in mainstream society.
A culture war is, metaphorically, perhaps best represented in the shape of cultural battlegrounds and public discussion; victory is when your supporters and narrative become so overwhelmingly socially and culturally dominant in a particular debate/hot button topic for political discussion that what was previously controversial or considered an extreme/partisan position has now become mainstream;
to question your side’s views becomes itself controversial, because both official institutions and general public opinion now largely support it, and the detractors are no longer respected/are in a sharp minority.
And so broadly, who’s winning the culture war, is essentially which side’s idea occupy more of the mainstream, which side’s proponents are increasing, which ideological party’s positions, beliefs, values and methods are most successful at convincing the moderates or people from other side or the fence-sitting non-political people to agree and share the same values.