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Academic elitism is a charge sometimes levied at academic institutions and academic more broadly; use of the term "ivory tower" often carries with it an implicit critique of academic elitism. "Academic elitism" is also related to the concept of "intellectual elitism".

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.

Academic elitism is also an ideological belief that only those who attended the most elite or prestigious universities (such as Ivy League schools) are capable of obtaining wealth and power. Proponents of academic elitism justify this belief by claim that this is just a by-product of capitalism.

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Academic elitism will often be expressed within communities through declarations of "Otherness", that is, non-academics will be said to be 'not as good as us'.^{[citation needed]} Non-academics may be represented as a danger to quality in research, and their perceived lower standard of education can lead to them being considered as members of a lower social grouping.^{[citation needed]}

The tendency towards academic elitism is most pronounced in highly competitive and highly regarded research environments. The peer review of academia process is occasionally cited^{[citation needed]} as suppressing dissent against “mainstream” theories (part of an overall system of suppression of intellectual dissent). Some sociologists of science argue that peer review makes the ability to publish susceptible to control by elites and to personal jealousy.^{[citation needed]} Reviewers tend to be especially critical of conclusions that contradict their own views, and lenient towards those that accord with them.^{[citation needed]} At the same time, elite scientists are more likely than less established ones to be sought out as referees, particularly by high-prestige journals or publishers.^{[citation needed]} As a result, it has been argued, ideas that harmonize with the elite's are more likely to see print and to appear in premier journals than are iconoclastic or revolutionary ones, which accords with Thomas Kuhn's well-known observations regarding scientific revolutions.^{[citation needed]}

The tendency towards academic elitism is noticeable in some education systems (particularly in developed countries).^{[citation needed]} More attention and resources are afforded to students who are deemed most intelligent at an early age^{[citation needed]}. This inequality tends to further separate the elite from the remainder of society. Streaming systems include branded institutions, gifted classes, and other elite student groups. Countries with extensive private school systems also exemplify this trend.

This short section requires expansion.

Academic elitist views and beliefs may come from a variety of sources.

General

Elitism, Ivory Tower,

Contrary views

Anti-intellectualism, Expert

Education

Ivy League, Little Ivies, Southern Ivies

Published articles

• Adams, Mike S., "Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel: Confessions of a Conservative College Professor". Harbor House, 2004, ISBN 1-891799-17-7
• Bair, Jeffrey H.,and Myron Boor, "The Academic Elite in Law: Linkages Among Top-Ranked Law Schools". Psychological Reports 68: 891-94, 1991.
• Bair, Jeffrey H., "The Hiring practices in finance education: linkages among top-ranked graduate programs - The University". American Journal of Economics and Sociology, April, 2003.
• Best, Gerard A., "Breaking down the Ivory tower". Caribbean Beat, Issue No. 76, November/December 2005.
• Bramble, Tom, "Class and power in the ivory tower". Australian Universities Review (unpublished), University of Queensland.
• Cornwell, Reid, "The Invisible University or Academic Elitism". (.doc)
• Hylden, Jordan L., and John H. Jernigan, "Leaning Ivory Tower; The most troubling bias among academics is not political but religious". Havard Political Review, 6/8/03.
• Keally, Charles T., "Academic Elitists and Elite Academics: An Essay". Sophia International Review no. 28, 2006.
• Lewis, Lionel, "The Academic Elite Goes to Washington, and to War; Critics of the academy have lambasted faculty doves. History shows that academia has roosted a flock of hawks". American Association of University Professors.
• Lin, Xi, "The academic elite; Cynicism and disillusionment are protocol for UW elites". The Daily of the University of Washington, 1998.
• Newitz, Annalee, "Ivory Tower| Out of academia". Salon.com, 2000.
• Schrecker, Ellen W., "No Ivory Tower : McCarthyism and the Universities". 1986. ISBN 0-19-503557-7
• Sprain, Leah, "Sending Signals from the Ivory Tower: Barriers to Connecting Academic Research to the Public". (PDF)

Websites

• The Authority On Ivory Towers and Elitism
• A video on Elitism in College Admissions produced by the The Massachusetts School of Law