I have to admit that one of my biggest fears as I progress through my doctoral program and enter into academia is falling into intellectual snobbery. How can I remain an intellect without the baggage of elitism, of viewing my obtained knowledge as somehow better or more useful than another less educated person's knowledge? I caught myself using a $100 word in an ordinary conversation the other day and it kind of shocked me. I won't give the word that I said but it may have started with "neo". My fear stems from the risk of being alienated from those who do not share the same academic pedigree or even lexicon as me. This would include most of the people I associate myself with outside of school. I'm paralyzed by the idea of going back home, being with family and old friends and feeling like all of our conversations are being lost in translation.
But besides just the issue of language, the ideology and lifestyle of academia is one that I realize I take part in but always to some degree of discomfort. The happy hours at wine bars, sampling expensive cheeses that all pretty much taste the same to me. The exchanging of stories, recalling month long trips to other countries, experiencing "culture" (I usually don't have these stories to share). Most of these experiences, and a plethora of others, are also symptomatic of (upper) middle-class performances and expectations. "Going green", eating organic, buying hybrid cars are all wonderful movements and are necessary in order for our world to continue to exist but to look down upon or condemn others for their (economic) inability to do these things is middle-class snobbery. Furthermore, because a person is not versed in philosophy, history, and other liberal sciences does not mean that they are not in some way enlightened. In fact, in many cases some people have much more pressing things to think about (putting food on the table for the night) than the philosophic meaning of life or a labor market explanation of social class formation and stratification.
I've always been blessed to have a pretty diverse group of friends around me. Some that are academic and most who are not. I guess I depend on each group of friends to help me find balance. But more importantly, the onus falls on me to find and maintain the balance in myself.
