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Academic elitism is the criticism that academia or academics are prone to elitism. The term "ivory tower" often carries with it an implicit critique of academic elitism.
Description
Economist Thomas Sowell's Intellectuals and Society claims that intellectuals have an undeserved "halo effect" and are thus unfairly permitted to speak outside their expertise. In Sowell's estimation, academics respected for their contributions in their particular discipline often become known to the general public by commenting on policy issues outside that discipline.
Critics of academic elitism argue that highly educated people tend to form an isolated social group whose views tend to be over represented among journalists, professors, and other members of the intelligentsia who often draw their salary and funding from taxpayers. Economist Dan Klein shows that the worldwide top-35 economics departments pull 76 percent of their faculty from their own graduates. He argues that the academic culture is pyramidal, not polycentric, and resembles a closed and genteel social circle. Meanwhile, he claims, academia draws on resources from taxpayers, foundations, endowments, and tuition payers, and it judges the social service delivered. The result is a self-organizing and self-validating circle.
Another criticism is that universities tend more to pseudo-intellectualism than intellectualism per se; for example, academicians may be charged with over-complicating problems and expressing them in obscure language (e.g., the Sokal affair, obscurantism).
Academic elitism suggests that in highly competitive academic environments only those individuals who have engaged in scholarship are deemed to have anything worthwhile to say, or do. It suggests that individuals who have not engaged in such scholarship are cranks. Steven Zhang of the Cornell Daily Sun has described the graduates of elite schools, especially those in the Ivy League, as having a "smug sense of success" because "It makes us believe gaining entrance into the Ivy League is an accomplishment unto itself." Deeming scholarly academic discourse as the only means with which to engage in a topic has various implications in a variety of fields of study.
Feminist Academia
Feminist Theory is a recognized legitimate field of study in academia. Feminist academia provides the rhetoric and explanative power to build the knowledge of women’s oppression and the tools to challenge the apparent subordination. Feminist theory has a language of its own to describe the inequalities and place a name to the many concepts and ideas that comprise the feminist theories. The root goal of a multitude of feminist theories is to encourage the collective discourse of a variety of people from different walks of life (cite). In practice however, the very language of academia is exclusive.
Feminism can be seen as elitist by creating a unique language specific to feminism that is not accessible to all. The requirement of learning the complex lexicon of feminism can hinder women seeking to become involved in the movement but unable to attend college. Irony can be found in trying to legitimize the field of feminist theory and branch out inclusive theory such as intersectionality, Black Feminism, Indigenous feminisms, and transnational feminism. The very rhetoric of the field may alienate women who are unable to attain a college education which in turn reduces these women's credibility in feminism.
Critiques of Feminist Academia
Feminism For Real
Jessica Yee's Feminism For Real outlines the elitist attitudes in feminist academia. Yee seeks to “ the academic industrial complex of feminism.” In the book, Yee outlines how she is still a valid voice for feminism despite the fact that she does not hold a degree. (cite) Yee explains, "So now I hope you will continue to read this-- even if I did just drop a few points on the intelligence scale of where you might have thought I was." (cite) Her reference to an imaginary intelligence scale enforces the notion that one must have a degree in order to be well versed in feminism and to be taken seriously in the field. (Insert Picture)
Feminism Under Fire
Ellen R. Klein further exemplifies the issues that surround the academic nature of feminism in Feminism Under Fire.(cite) Klein showcases the harsh and judgmental nature of her "feminist comrades" who deem her classical education in philosophy as illegitimate.(cite) She explains that she was ridiculed and told her questions were "unworthy of response" because in her comrades' eyes, she was biased with male-dominated schooling.(cite) This very judgmental+ nature of feminism itself is a testament to the unavailability of feminism to a very large section of women because they are unable to 'keep up' with the high society of college educated feminists.
See also=
- Anti-intellectualism
- Anti-intellectualism in American Life
- Collective narcissism
- Gifted education
- Graduate Record Examination
- Intelligence quotient
- Liberal Elite
- Model minority
References
-
Klein, Daniel B. (2005). "The Ph.D. Circle in Academic Economics". Econ Journal Watch. 2 (1): 133–148.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - http://cornellsun.com/node/46778
- Adams, Mike S. (2004). Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor. Harbor House. ISBN 1-891799-17-7.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Bair, Jeffrey H.; Boor, Myron (1991). "The Academic Elite in Law: Linkages Among Top-Ranked Law Schools". Psychological Reports. 68 (3): 891–94. doi:10.2466/PR0.68.3.891-894.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Bair, Jeffrey H. (2003). "The Academic Elite in Law: Linkages Among Top-Ranked Law Schools". The American Journal of Economics and Sociology.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Keally, Charles T., "Academic Elitists and Elite Academics: An Essay". Sophia International Review no. 28, 2006.
- Lin, Xi, "The academic elite; Cynicism and disillusionment are protocol for UW elites". The Daily of the University of Washington, 1998.
- Zhang, Steven, "The Poison Ivy League". The Cornell Daily Sun, 2011.
- Newitz, Annalee (2000), "Ivory Tower. (Out of academia)". Salon.com, 2000.
- Schrecker, Ellen W., "No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities". 1986. ISBN 0-19-503557-7
- A video on Elitism in College Admissions produced by The Massachusetts School of Law
Further reading
- Trow, Martin, "Problems in the Transition from Elite to Mass Education," Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, 1973 .
- Papers about Academic elitism