Confronting academic snobbery

A prominent researcher visited a university to give a public lecture. When a local teacher dared to ask a question, the visitor responded, ‘That was the wrong question, from the wrong person, at the wrong time. Better luck next time.’ It is not unusual to hear people who have encountered academics and the university environment telling about the scorn coming down at them from above. Non-academics may feel what they say is considered of little value just because they don’t know the right jargon or have a degree. When their questions are dismissed without serious consideration, they may think: Are my questions stupid? or Why won’t the academics answer? Many undergraduates find that their opinions are not respected by their teachers. Research students feel overlooked when their supervisors cannot remember their names or don’t greet them when they meet in the corridor. Going to international conferences in their discipline to present a paper for the first time, doctoral students might encounter an inner circle of highly regarded professors who do not look in their direction, and hardly ever bother to introduce themselves if they happen to end up next to them in the lunch queue. Academics in the social sciences or humanities who work together with natural scientists soon realise that what they are doing is not considered real science, just as sociologists using qualitative methods are treated as less scientific than those who use statistics. Scholars on short-term appointments are potential targets of academic snobbery from those with permanent jobs (DeSantis, 2011). In this article, the authors introduce the topic of academic snobbery, using stories to illustrate its different forms. The authors’ special interest is in the seldom-investigated challenge of how to expose and oppose academic snobbery.