A new paper suggests the phenomenon may be global—not American

First-year student Adeline Harrell's backpack is covered in buttons with messages as it sits at her feet during class, at New College of Florida, Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. The academic freedom that allows students to design individualized majors is mirrored by a student body that feels free to express itself, say students and faculty, who describe New College as a haven for brainy kids who are high-achieving and intellectually curious. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Image: AP

|San Francisco|2 min read

“Team america: world police”, a comedy puppet film, pokes fun at American self-importance. The theme song boasts of the things the country has created: McDonald’s, the nfl and rock-and-roll; also, less plausibly, liberty, Christmas and books. New work by David Rozado of Te Pukenga–New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology suggests something else that Americans did not invent: the “woke” phenomenon.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Global pandemic”

Riding high: The lessons of America’s astonishing economy

From the April 15th 2023 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

⇒Explore the edition