It gained traction because it was supported and funded by the Ford Foundation and other US agencies - possibly because it undermined traditional Marxism and replaced hardcore street-fighting leftism with a soup of politically and economically impotent pseudo-profound nonsense garnished by divisive identity politics.

It was also enthusiastically imported into US academia, where it became the new normal - a good way to keep intellectuals distracted while not being a real threat to established power. Unlike traditional Marxism and its offspring, which it successfully replaced.