logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2024
49m 3s

Musa al-Gharbi on Elite Wokeness, Islam,...

MERCATUS CENTER AT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
About this episode

Check out Pluralist Points on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts

Musa al-Gharbi is a sociologist and assistant professor at Stony Brook University whose research explores how people think about, talk about, and produce shared knowledge about race, inequality, social movements, extremism, policing, and other social phenomena. His new book, We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite, examines the rise and fall of wokeness among America’s elites and explores the underlying social forces at play.

Tyler and Musa explore the rise and fall of the "Great Awokening" and more, including how elite overproduction fuels social movements, why wokeness tends to fizzle out, whether future waves of wokeness will ratchet up in intensity, why neuroticism seems to be higher on the political Left, how a great awokening would manifest in a Muslim society, Black Muslims and the Nation of Islam, why Musa left Catholicism, who the greatest sociologist of Islam is, Muslim immigration and assimilation in Europe, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded September 19th, 2024.

Other ways to connect

Up next
Oct 1
John Amaechi on Leadership, the NBA, and Being Gay in Professional Sports
John Amaechi is a former NBA forward/center who became a chartered scientist, professor of leadership at Exeter Business School, and New York Times bestselling author. His newest book, It's Not Magic: The Ordinary Skills of Exceptional Leaders, argues that leadership isn't bestow ... Show More
59m 32s
Sep 24
Steven Pinker on Coordination, Common Knowledge, and the Retreat of Liberal Enlightenment
Steven Pinker returns to Conversations with Tyler with an argument that common knowledge—those infinite loops of "I know that you know that I know"—is the hidden infrastructure that enables human coordination, from accepting paper money to toppling dictators. But Tyler wonders: i ... Show More
45m 58s
Sep 17
David Commins on Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism, and the Future of the Gulf States
David Commins, author of the new book Saudi Arabia: A Modern History, brings decades of scholarship and firsthand experience to explain the kingdom's unlikely rise. Tyler and David discuss why Wahhabism was essential for Saudi state-building, the treatment of Shiites in the Easte ... Show More
51m 7s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Islam
Today’s episode in our history of revolutionary ideas explores the world-altering impact of Islam from the seventh century onwards. David talks to the leading Islamic scholar Tim Winter (Abdal Hakim Murad) about what changed – and what didn’t – with the appearance of Islamic law, ... Show More
1h 3m
Jan 2024
Maryam Kashani, "Medina by the Bay: Scenes of Muslim Study and Survival" (Duke UP, 2023)
From the Black Power movement and state surveillance to Silicon Valley and gentrification, Medina by the Bay: Scenes of Muslim Study and Survival (Duke UP, 2023) examines how multiracial Muslim communities in the San Francisco Bay Area survive and flourish within and against raci ... Show More
1h 10m
Nov 2022
American Muslims, Social Liberalism & the Culture Wars with Mobeen Vaid
Mobeen Vaid has been at the forefront of addressing the creeping liberalisation of social attitudes of the Muslim community and how these opinions often are way out of sync with the global Muslim ummah and Islam. Mobeen’s erudite commentary has looked to counter and critique thes ... Show More
1h 10m
Aug 18
Contemporary Moroccan Thought | Mohammed Hashas
We delve into the need to fill the literary and intellectual gap in Moroccan scholarship, the impacts of notable contemporary Moroccan philosophers and thinkers, and how their ideas engage with local, regional, and global issues like modernity, democracy, and human rights. Dr Moh ... Show More
54m 40s
Jun 2025
Sami Al Daghistani | Al-Ghazali's Influence on Islamic Thought, Ethics & Economic Philosophy
We're joined by professor and author Sami Al Daghistani to explore the life and thought of Al-Ghazali, a prominent figure in Islamic intellectual history. We delve into Al-Ghazali's multifaceted contributions to Islamic law, philosophy, and theology, highlighting his major works, ... Show More
1 h
Feb 2025
114: What Does The Reviver of Islam Look Like in the 21st Century? w. Dr. Ermin Sinanovic
Dr. Ermin Sinanovic, Executive Director of the Center for Islam in the Contemporary World at Shenandoah University and a Faculty Associate in Research at Cornell University, explores the concept of Mujaddid (the renewer of Islam) and their relevance in the 21st century. He studie ... Show More
56m 34s
May 2024
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Growing Threat of Radical Islam
APPLY to Ralston College’s Summer Latin Program at http://ralston.ac/latin-program Worldwide applications close on 31 May. Watch the Munk Debate: Is Anti-Zionism Antisemitism? Live June 17th. Join today to live stream. Click here: https://bit.ly/munk_debate Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a S ... Show More
1h 4m
May 2025
“Fight for your happiness, or the world will crush you” -Mustafa Briggs 150
Mustafa is an author, historian, and creator of the acclaimed ‘Beyond Bilal’ lecture series, for a wide-ranging conversation on faith, identity, and the often-overlooked contributions of Black-Muslims throughout history. Mustafa shares the personal story of how his journey into I ... Show More
1h 41m
Feb 2025
#401 — Christian Nationalism and the New Right
Sam Harris speaks with Katherine Stewart about her new book, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy. They discuss Project 2025, Christian nationalism, white supremacy, whether the backlash against wokeness has been overblown, the asymmetric standa ... Show More
32m 37s
Dec 2024
Dr Sohaira Siddiqui | Al-Mujadilah: Center & Mosque for Women
In this episode of the afikra podcast produced in collaboration with Qatar Foundation, we discover the impactful contributions and current challenges faced by Muslim women as Dr Sohaira Siddiqui discusses the vision and mission of the Al-Mujadilah Center and Mosque for Women in Q ... Show More
58m 16s