I understand your argument. However, indoctrination is usually achieved through the elective courses. There, the ideas of cultural Marxism are dominant. Ie. Electives on gender studies, critical race theory etc.

I think it is wrong to try to assess the influence of 'cultural marxism' by comparing total numbers of students in the humanities and social sciences with the overwhelming number of students who never run the risk of being influenced by it (in Stem, economics etc.). The point is that in the field where it can have an influence, it is disproportionately prevalent and manifests some very scary results (see the Lindsay Shepherd scandal for example).

Most college students in nazi germany in 1933 were studying medicine or tangent stem-related fields, is it safe to say 1933 Germany didn't have a nazi ideology problem even though most people weren't working in or studying this field? A better question would be who primarily dictates these institutions' top-down beliefs and principles and which ideologies seem to have the most influence.

I suspect you might have heard of the Evergreen incident. This is the kind of stuff that highlights there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.

I’m not sure where you live but I’m a student at Brooklyn College. From what I see on a ground level Marxist thinking both economic and cultural is promoted primarily by a small portion of the far left mostly coming out of the fields you mentioned. I think you underestimate the cultural influence this relatively small group of people are having on the political conversation on an increasingly more mainstream left, specifically through social media. I know countless people who are adopting and promoting the Marxist frame work out of a fear of being called racist or a bigot.

If you honestly think none of the coursework in a business major involves any cultural Marxism, you clearly know nothing about those degrees.

Is this the antimarx subreddit? Usually don't see Jordan Peterson viewers in Wes' comments. Must have had the scare word MARXIST in the title lmao

I’m confused. What does someone’s major have to with this? There are such things as prerequisite courses, for starters. And critical theory is a way of framing things, so it can permeate things like business degrees.

I as a business major that just graduated had to write a pro Marxist paper in philosophy and similar papers in sociology and communication ethics and more which were all required

The people who get those degrees tend to have amplified voices. Journalists, scriptwriters, reporters, authors, lawyers, judges, and teachers usually have degrees which fall under the liberal arts and humanities umbrella-- political science, for example. And every major is required to take a few general studies classes. The business people and engineers aren't involved in writing social policies. They obey HR departments and politicians, who take their cues from the intelligentsia. From a Google search of "what do English majors do": "Studying English prepares you for a diverse range of professional fields, including teaching, journalism, law, publishing, medicine, and the fine arts. You can also get jobs in the entertainment, public relations, nonprofit, and even technology fields." (Strangely, they left out waiting tables.)

Look at the number of school policies that come out of the XYZ studies department vs say the engineering school for a better metric, imho ...

Isn't cultural maxism about taking power over cultural influence? Media, journalism, academic etc and less interested in economics, because once they have cultural power they can enforce the economic change? This was the idea from the original Frankfurt school as i understand. The global worker revolution didn't happen because worker's minds were under the influence of capitalisic culture. So they need to take power over the culture and free the minds of workers so the revolution can happen. So this would explain why they're unconcerned with putting out business degrees. They more concerned with influencing the mind of the graduate. Hence why within many of the degrees you mentioned are courses/ electives that teach 'cultural maxist' ideas.

Hey Wes, you should do a few vids on the Scottish Enlightenment

What does the term 'cultural marxism' actually mean? How many degrees in the US are economics? Of these economics degrees, how many include marxian economic theory?

Hey Dr. Cecil, I’ve really enjoyed some of you’re lectures that I’ve listened to, and they have been beneficial to my understanding of the world. I have to disagree with you here though. Cultural Marxism is absolutely prevalent and universities are absolutely spreading it. By cultural Marxism, I mean nothing about the political/economic theory. I mean the idea of the oppressed and the oppressor persisting through history, but in the form of culture. So critical race theory, social justice, the patriarchy, the wave ideas that comes from being “woke” are all a part of cultural Marxism. Personally I went to a small college in Alabama (perhaps the most conservative state) and was an education major for secondary education. I had a class called “multicultural education and diversity”. It was extremely political and indoctrinating. Almost all university students are exposed and taught cultural Marxism in their undergrad classes if not also some of their majors. My intentions are not to call everyone who disagrees with my an idiot. I would just like to present ideas from an opposing view.

You're Professorship level, right?? By the power and authority in me vested, I upgrade the status of all Professors to that of Emeriti. Thanks.

Wes, please read James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose's "Cynical Theories." You are understating the influence of these ideas in a MASSIVE way. It's too much to get into in a UKposts comment. Please keep digging on this; I fear you have deeply misunderstood the reach of these ideas and how powerful the influence really is.

I haven’t watched this video yet but I can already tell the comments attracted a certain crowd

You're right the thing being complained about shouldn't really be named the same thing as the philosophy.

I refuse to believe anything until it is officially denied. Thank you for the official denial.

You should definitely do a lecture on Ayn Rand. Ive read two biographies on Ayn Rand and still find it odd that as capitalist and individualist America was, its apparently not enough for Ayn Rand...

What? No mention of Gramsci and the slow revolution and the walk through the institutions?

This video may be technically correct, but only on the premise of pointing out that the theories might be using the term "Cultural Marxism" invalidly. This means that your video doesn't pay attention to their actual concerns and observations, just that the label of "Cultural Marxism" doesn't seem to make sense (at least to the definition you laid out). Which is fine, but kind of not useful. The second substantial part of this video are your counter-arguments to random straw-manned ideas from undisclosed sources. One may contemplate if that is actually a decent and appropriate way to discuss political views, is it even useful? Maybe in a very limited capacity, good enough for a 22 minute rant I guess. I have many objections to almost every argument and example that you try to counter, and also to those that you construct, but here is just one objection (to spare me, because I don't even know if you will read this): At 20:49 you describe how the Frankfurt school was largely economic, and not culturally concerned. To my knowledge that is wrong. Source: ukposts.info/have/v-deo/ppmaem6feomjuoU.html - In the video source, it is described how they significantly influenced the ideas of the denazification of Germany. A member of the Frankfurt school, Theodor W. Adorno, coined the term "The Authoritarian Personality Type". Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_personality So don't say that the Frankfurt school was mainly economic, even if it was it doesn't mean anything, it's an irrelevant fact. As if it makes sense that mainly focusing on economics would in any way make any other thing unimportant, it's just a fallacious way of thinking. Now, if you're actually willing to learn more about those concerns and observations, I'd suggest that you read up on "Biological Leninism" or "Bioleninism". Here are a video series that describe those concepts: 1) ukposts.info/have/v-deo/qYqnnoSBr7CW14E.html 2) ukposts.info/have/v-deo/fZ2jo4GjeIB-1IE.html Those videos basically just read from this article: spandrell.com/2018/01/21/leninism-and-bioleninism - So you can just read that if you're not interested in watching or listening to videos. I think this concept is directly relevant to the arguments that you've been countering here, so if you actually care about this I hope you'll watch or listen to them, or read the article.

I get the feeling you're going to get some interesting comments on this one lol. Thank you for speaking up tho, this is such a bizarre conspiracy theory I see constantly online

Interesting. The problem I have with this is that we frequently make the mistake of thinking one concept (like Cultural Marxism) is going to be completely (or reasonably) identical from Europe to the United States. I could agree that Cultural Marxism might be overstated in US colleges but to dismiss that its not there because its incompatible with the thinking of the origin (Frankfurt School) fails to take into consideration that there is a difference between American and European strains. I live in an area with a very vocal social justice movement in the community. The gender, race, etc equality movements are also very vocally socialist.

I see your point sir on referencing cultural maxisim and it’s weak link to current progressive ideologies push through different media platforms as hinted Disney. However I think you are oversimplifying in your take on what gets published as simply what makes money

I predict some home-grown lobster scholars are going to try to explain the history of philosophy to prof. Cecil in the comment section :-) Great lecture, as always, sir!

Hey Wes would you ever do a video on Ayn Rand

I'm talking Habilitation, no bull shit.

I "heard" the part about how Socrates and Plato would talk about things in a metaphorical fashion, and then anchor it on something pragmatic, which sounded interesting, but I have no idea how you related it to everything else you were talking about, because I didn't really understand what you were talking about. Something to do with Marxism verses Capitalism? Sorry. Not trying to be rude, I very much like your lectures, just being honest.

A timely video. Great as usual.

Thank you

This video in a nutshell: Wes spends half an hour trying not to say the words "Jordan Peterson"

So when all of these people who do STEM or other degrees have to do gender studies as a compulsory course then you believe there is no influence(?)

Great exemple with Disney. You can check recent videos about what is the executives agenda. So I have some personal taughts: Either you didn't read anything or you read it and understood not so much, or is purposely deceiving people🏳️‍🌈

Class inequality is NOT the concern of Frankfurt School. Actually, the concept of class became the very cause of " the problem kf Marxism". The inauthenticity of the subject became their main issue that's why culture became their preoccupation. Ideology is not even tye issue among the thinkers. The " melancholy science" of Adorno was anchored in the context of the threat of Fascism in Germany. You just read secondary unverified sources ( Wikipedia) not the authoritative primary sources. Do your research. Don't be lazy.

I thought of the second coming of Christ simile one second before you said it. 😂

All that people listening to Fox-TV isn't that a kind of cultural marxism?

Thanks for speaking up on this.

This conspiracy theory is very common here in Brazil, one of the basis of the election of Bolsonaro.

" Spoiler alert, no evidence for this." You're a liar. There's tons of evidence. I have a folder full of it with words from their own mouths!

Introduction is too long

Oh sweet Wes. What business major hurt you?

You are wrong. It's not the number of graduates in social "sciences", but the indoctrination across all the courses. Most of the professors and teachers are left leaning. So you've got a graduate in Mathematics or Physics or Business that had a leftist professor and, as a result of that indoctrination, he has become a leftist himself. So cultural marxism is a thing. It's real. No wonder why in the West we have the same politics and "values" regardless of the country, language or culture. And that's not by chance.

Thank you for video! This is by far the most concise and well put together argument I've seen against the cultural marxism meme, and while I don't necessarily agree with your conclusion, everything in this video is 100% true. I can answer the question you as at 9:00 pretty easily though, with the explanation you were giving just before. The goal of these guys was to make the revolution happen even amidst capitalism succeeding, so it would seem obvious to me that if you are anti-marxist today and you see what you believe to be "cultural marxism" around you everywhere, the Frankfurt school's goal lines up nicely with the target the Right is looking for. This is my first time on your channel, I see it's a philosophy history channel, not politics, so it would make sense as to why not take on the people pushing the cultural marxism directly in this video. However, by not doing so, there are a couple of points that they make that address points you make in this video. I think looking at degree rates is fantastic evidence, and it's also obvious that capitalist corporations are keen for coin more than pushing ideology, all good stuff. However, there are 2 issues I'm having, I don't want to go that deep into them because I feel the conclusions are also pretty obvious. All those business and comp sci degrees are going into business and comp sci industries, where they generally make widgets or provide sterile services like banking or insurance. My wife with the English degree became a teacher. In fact, almost all teachers need degrees, and they are going to be in the sort of fields where those professors are more likely to be left leaning, which leads to the second point. We can look at the amount of degrees offered with a tilt towards marxism or not as evidence, can we use general news/media as evidence showing the default of Hollywood, news etc is left leaning, even though our country as a whole is still quite politically split, the default when we vote certainly isn't left. So how come we have so much content leaning one direction if it's not actually representative of the people who make up these industries? Plus, if it were true that colleges were just centers of finance and business, then they certainly wouldn't care about Ben Shaprio visiting to talk or trying to segregate their dormitories and libraries, things that have happened all across the country multiple times. Would you say these are edge cases and don't represent the majority of colleges? It seems to me that colleges are heavily left leaning, and we know that from Jon Heidts research, something like over 80% of professors donate to democrats on average across all colleges in the US. Those influence the history, English and social studies teachers we get in middle school and high school who, while not marxists themselves necessarily, are not providing a balanced education because they didn't get one themselves, and if you're a conspiracy theorist, that's all according to the Frankfurt plan! I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I do want answers as to why the default is left and why all my peers watch no news, read no history, study no philosophy, but seem so certain in the self-righteousness. Cheers and thanks again for a great video.

This didn't age well🤣🤣

The Frankfurt School did not end with these old timers you focus on. For instance , you overlooked Juergen Habermas . See what Disney has become circa 2023. See how social media developed , and the government censorship of media . Your history and analysis is obsolete.

I think the rise of Jordan Peterson's popularity on youtube has contributed to this perception. To be fair, he makes considerable points about debunking the concept of the left's narrative that the western world is a patriarchal tyrannical construct. Peterson mentions stats on the higher number of successful male suicides, working more dangerous jobs, higher incarceration rate, crime rate, and explains these phenomena on the basis of psychoanalytic/archetypal and psychological theories. His popularity came from striking controversy on the note of his aversion to the legislation made requiring pronouns for trans communities to be used. He isn't against the use of pronouns, but the legislation of it that requires it and conflicts with his belief, and I agree with, the fundamental need for freedom of speech, as any kind of announcement of truth and expression of an individual hinges on the risk of offending someone, exposing vulnerability in others or one's self. So he basically makes the narrative that "postmodern neomarxists" are puppeteers of the humanities throughout college systems because the only place you really start seeing this dichotomy rhetoric of oppressor vs oppressed, rich white males vs the rest of the world kind of stemming from the sociological classes. It may not be an agenda, but certainly seems to be a development of a way to deduce the problems with society in a social identity context. So begins the rise of identity politics that pollutes our world's news and serves as a means to elaborate upon injustices in society by imbuing the injustices of everyday life with a "growing movement" per say, that believes in this narrative/reasoning of patriarchal tyranny, the horrors of injustices of minority groups, taking the dark emotional history of the oppressed groups of society and directing it towards any who become an enemy to this narrative, or simply contributes to what this narrative deems as the cause of all evil, oppression and injustice in our world's operations that stems from the "imperialism" of the western world. This was off the top of my head so I may have some holes in my description and portrayal, but I am really grateful for this video. It does expose the "movement" if it even is one, for what it is, and not some kind of fear. But Jordan Peterson's view does kind of explain how the perpetrators of the cultural marxist dynamics are a threat to the logos, as their philosophy is rooted in derrida and foucault, and my search for their names actually led me to this channel funny enough, pretty grateful for the educational ground in philosophy. I wish everyone in society would at least be aware of philosophy to some half baked extent.

I love critical theory

Funny…..Hmmmmm…..We live under oligarchy. Awesome talk supporting the false narrative.

Interview in Der Spiegel, 1969: SPIEGEL: Professor Adorno, two weeks ago, the world still seemed in order. . . ADORNO: Not to me. 😁

Irrigation with marvel heroes.

I'd liken this misconception to the rise of pseudo-archaelogy a few years back on youtube. The internet has generated this bizarre secondary, populist intellectual space that's almost entirely parallel to traditional academia. It's separate even at the level of epistemological methods (e.g. no empiricism, no reading of primary sources), and consequently generates some pretty out-there 'truths' that don't correspond in the slightest with happenings on the otherside. For just one example, one massive thing that flies totally over the general awareness in this sphere about Jordan Peterson, the main spreader of this cultural marxism meme, is that not only is that movement extremely fringe within academic psychology but so is Peterson himself, as a Jungian thinker. Modern psyc is dominated by experimental schools of thought, who discard dreams for rats and undergrads forced to act like rats. No one in the academy is talking about culture or chaos dragons. It'd maybe be better if they did, but, as is, they've adopted the same hyperspecialised myopia of the hard sciences.

✍️

Thanks alot pro.Cecil lot of very srange fear based and sometimes fame drivin preachers ( jorden peterson ) out there right now._. And its nice to hear you lay this out for folks._._.

I'm no expert in philosophy, but I read a lot. I'm a liberal, in the European sense of the word (John Locke, John Stuart Mill, Hayek...), but I've read a lot of leftist authors (Marx, Engel, Lenin, Trostky, Slavoj Zizek and many others). Ideas are very powerful, and the way this lecture whitewashes the impact of this authors in academia and modern political controversies made me jaw drop. To any one who wishes to go further the rabbit hole, just read "Fools, Frauds and Firebrands" by the late Sir Roger Scruton, or go see the debates between Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Zizek on UKposts. Cultural Marxism is a thing and it is spreading everywhere.

Why does anyone like Jordan Peterson? He is not a mind blowing person. He is a basic conservative who mistreats his "carnivorous " daughter. He is mistaken. All these comments about J. Peterson are positive and that baffles me. He is not hijacking my brain with his "patriarchy or bust" ideology. The stuff he says that you like hearing is not his stuff; he read some books and is explaining them to you. The other stuff, the bullshit, yeah, that's stuff he came up with. He gets away with spewing shit because shit spewers lap it up. READ MORE; TRUST LESS

Thank you for this rational discussion of a controversial topic.

Trump mentions cultural marxism in speech last week. Dang red scare type shit

Sir, you're good at this. like gooooooood

When the revolution failed in Germany than Lenin and the Bolsheviks turned towards freedom for the colonial slaves of Imperialism. They held the Congress of the Peoples of the East in 1920 and encouraged the founding of communist parties in countries like China which had only a small minority of industrial workers and had no Social Democratic Parties.

Wes' "West Africa can save us" is the perfect example of this crap.

Usually people who scream "cultural marxism" tend to be reactionary in their ideology or their general view of current culture. Cough cough jordan peterson cough cough

So much rambling and very little content.

“This is just wrong”. You are a goof.

You dont understand the influence of cultural marxism on the breakdown of the family through mass entertainment and music.the destruction of traditional values.the sexual immorality is astounding in america.

I always find it really funny when actual academics who know what they're talking about encounter nonsense like this.

You have fair arguments, but comparing today’s graduates with the ones sixty years ago when these ideas were in vogue is not a fair comparison. I would assume that there were a lot more liberal art graduates way back then. You also ignore the influence of the media, liberal arts graduates the whole bunch. It would be interesting to know why these sudden cultural changes arose in the same time frame, like feminism, sexual revolution, acceptance of homosexuality, denigration of Western civilizations and so on. It does not look like a coincidence, unsurprisingly some people will cast suspicions.

You make excuses for this evil movement and shame on you.

No, Wes, it's not wrong that colleges are indoctrinating students into this kind of thought. I got very liberal amounts of it crammed down my throat in graduate art school a quarter century ago. You no believing it happens doesn't make it not happen. Have you heard of Evergreen?! Your analysis leaves off at what are the most popular majors. Nobody is saying that engineers and businessmen are "cultural marxists". You have to get into the liberal arts. Look it up. Your level of thinking is not worhty of my attention. Unsubbed.

Jordan Peterson speaks truth