Table Of ContentBernie Bros Gone Woke
Studies in
Critical Social Sciences
Series Editor
David Fasenfest (Wayne State University)
Editorial Board
Eduardo Bonilla- Silva (Duke University)
Chris Chase- Dunn (University of California– Riverside)
William Carroll (University of Victoria)
Raewyn Connell (University of Sydney)
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw (University of California, Los Angeles/
Columbia University)
Raju Das (York University)
Heidi Gottfried (Wayne State University)
Karin Gottschall (University of Bremen)
Alfredo Saad- Filho (King’s College London)
Chizuko Ueno (University of Tokyo)
Sylvia Walby (Lancaster University)
volume 217
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ scss
Bernie Bros Gone Woke
Class, Identity, Neoliberalism
By
Marc James Léger
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Internet meme of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders at the Inauguration of Joe Biden,
January 20, 2021. Photograph by Brendan Smialowski, afp, Getty Images.
cover concept: Marc James Léger
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Léger, Marc James, 1968- author.
Title: Bernie Bros gone woke : class, identity, neoliberalism / Marc James
Léger.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2022] | Series: Studies in critical
social sciences, 1573-4234 ; volume 217 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2022006424 (print) | lccn 2022006425 (ebook) |
isbn 9789004507128 (hardback) | isbn 9789004508422 (ebook)
Subjects: lcsh: Sanders, Bernard–Political and social views. |
Presidents–United States–Election–2020. | Political campaigns–United
States–History–21st century. | Right and left (Political
science) –United States–History–21st century. | Identity
politics–United States–History–21st century. | Neoliberalism–United
States–History–21st century. | Populism–United States–History–21st
century. | United States–Politics and government–21st century.
Classification: lcc E915 .L44 2022 (print) | lcc E915 (ebook) |
ddc 973.93–dc23/eng/20220218
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022006424
lc ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022006425
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill.” See and download: brill.com/b rill- typeface.
issn 1573-4 234
isbn 978-9 0-0 4-5 0712-8 (hardback)
isbn 978-9 0-0 4-5 0842-2 (e- book)
Copyright 2022 by Marc James Léger. Published by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink,
Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau and V&R unipress.
Koninklijke Brill nv reserves the right to protect this publication against unauthorized use. Requests for
re- use and/ or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill nv via brill.com or copyright.com.
This book is printed on acid- free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
Contents
A cknowledgements vii
L ist of Figures ix
I ntroduction 1
1 D emocratic Brocialism 4
2 I dentity Politics Is Class Politics 7
3 P rogressive Neoliberalism 11
4 P ost- politics 13
5 O utline of the Book 17
1 W hat Does the Professional- Managerial Class Want? 22
1 F rom the New Deal to the New Democrats 25
2 A Stratum without an Ideology 36
3 T he Fall of the Liberal Class and the Rise of the Far Right 42
4 L eft Populism as Compromise Formation 49
5 T he Wages of Wokeness 52
2 B ernie Beats Trump, Clinton and Obama Beat Bernie 59
1 M illennials Feel the Bern 63
2 W hose Revolution? Whose Party? 77
3 M alarkey 92
3 E lective Affinities 97
1 Y our Candidate Here 98
2 I ’m Bernie Sanders and I Approve This Message 103
3 T he Difference That Universalism Makes 130
4 L ess than Bernie 141
1 I Know There Is No Democracy, but I Choose to Ignore 142
2 I Can’t Breathe 151
3 S ectarians, Splitters and Fellow Travelers 171
4 W hen I Hear the Word Culture, I Reach for the Political
Economy 185
5 R ole Model Ideology 195
vi Contents
C onclusion 218
1 T he Bipartisan Endgame 220
2 M eanwhile, Back in Wokeville 238
3 P olitical Revolution Inside 246
B ibliography 251
I ndex 282
Acknowledgements
The work of an independent scholar is somewhat less hectic but also less excit-
ing than that of a university professor. I have had the privilege of knowing both
worlds. Since working outside the university, I have benefitted from a situa-
tion that allows for more intellectual independence than that required by the
demands of a discipline- based career path. This autonomy has allowed me to
branch out from art theory and criticism to film studies, communication stud-
ies and politics. The present study is not unrelated to a book I started research-
ing in February 2018 and completed by Fall 2019 – a critical study of the official
portraits of Michelle and Barack Obama. What started out as an essay became
a short book and then a much longer book that examines what I refer to as
“post- representational politics” and “woke aesthetics” in relation to “reverse
neoliberal colorblindness,” or the propensity to ignore someone’s politics on
the basis of their identity. Among the several subject areas that are developed,
a chapter on “racialism and its discontents” examines the many political stand-
points according to which it is possible to advance the race and class debate.
So as to contribute to the success of the Sanders campaign, I had hoped the
Obama book would be published before the November 2020 election. Since
that did not happen, and the book remains forthcoming, I wrote extensively
about the 2020 nomination race. This research and commentary were pre-
pared into a short book defined as a “campaign chronicle.” Since I had already
said a great deal about class and identity issues in the Obama book, I avoided
repeating myself on many points in the Sanders book. In addition, I have at the
same time worked on an edited volume titled Identity Trumps Socialism, which
brings together the writings of leading radical left critics of identity politics.
For that book I have written an introduction as well as a lengthy addendum
that provides a class critique of identity politics, radical democracy, populism,
privilege theory and intersectionality. The addendum also examines positions
on the class and identity debate by conservatives, (neo)liberals, postmodern-
ists, anarchists, social democrats and communists. That book is also forthcom-
ing, as is a second volume of film studies, in this case comprised of essays that
address the impact of Black Lives Matter and the MeToo movements on con-
temporary cinema. I refer readers of Bernie Bros Gone Woke who would like
more information on the critique of the paradigms of intersectionality, privi-
lege theory or radical democratic left populism to the aforementioned books.
I acknowledge here the stewardship of Studies in Critical Social Science edi-
tor David Fasenfest, who advised me on the transformation of the chronicle
format into a monograph. This book would not have been possible without
viii Acknowledgements
David’s thoughtful support. At Brill, thanks to Jason Prevost and thanks also
to John Robinson at Team Bernie for the kind permission to use images from
Sanders campaign ads. As ever, thanks to comrade Cayley for her invaluable
support.
newgenprepdf
Figures
1 B arbara Smith endorsement ad for Bernie Sanders, February 3, 2020 106
2 M att McGorry endorsement ad for Bernie Sanders, February 14, 2020 115
3 P ramila Jayapal on Real Time with Bill Maher in a Bernie Sanders post, February
16, 2020 117
4 T om Blanchard, a farmer from Clinton, Iowa, in a Bernie Sanders ad, November
26, 2020 120
5 J amie Margolin in a Bernie Sanders campaign ad, February 24, 2020 121
6 A ctivist Shaun King in a Bernie Sanders advertisement, February 18, 2010 124
7 B ernie Sanders campaign advertisement promoting hbcu s, February 28,
2020 126
8 B ernie Sanders campaign ad featuring Adbullah Hammoud, March 8,
2020 129
9 V ictoria Dooley, Jennifer Epps- Addison and Nayyirah Shariff at Sanders Town
Hall on Racial and Economic Justice, Flint, Michigan, March 7, 2020 132
10 C ornel West at Sanders Town Hall on Racial and Economic Justice, Flint,
Michigan, March 7, 2020 138
