I think it's more direct than that, most of the people preaching academic wokeness are actively against the existence of a middle class and see the middle class as an enemy, because the middle class is the successful outcome of balanced capitalistic policies. By forcing the divide, it allows them secure power by speaking to the serfs and using their support to bolster themselves, while they maintain a privileged position amongst the elite. This has always been the case with academics, and why academia preached the very means of their own downfall in the earlier part of the 20th century in those nations that decided to take up arms against the bourgeoisie.
You're also absolutely correct that anybody with an understanding of political philosophy is appalled at the replacement of the more dire and obvious economic challenges that come with class stratification with endless ink being spilled about DEI that doesn't include any acknowledgement of economics or class. It's obvious that most of the DEI work, especially in the academy, is a distraction from truer economic divides which exist within Western society, and that the ideology acting as a replacement for personal religion does not have any measuring boundaries to allow for a balanced perspective.
You're also absolutely correct that anybody with an understanding of political philosophy is appalled at the replacement of the more dire and obvious economic challenges that come with class stratification with endless ink being spilled about DEI that doesn't include any acknowledgement of economics or class. It's obvious that most of the DEI work, especially in the academy, is a distraction from truer economic divides which exist within Western society, and that the ideology acting as a replacement for personal religion does not have any measuring boundaries to allow for a balanced perspective.