Reflections from the Middle: Making Sense of Elitism in Our Midst

This article sketches a personal story of life at a teaching institution when jobs in sociology were scarce. I examine the concept of elitism and situate it in conditions that shaped the discipline of sociology in the 1970s when a growing number of women entered the field. Throughout my story, I raise the following points: (1) Defining elitism requires comprehending its relativity, (2) Understanding what stands as elitism necessitates examining local and national standards for professional performance, (3) Recognizing that unshared standards or lack of awareness of routine standards leads to charges of elitism, and (4) Acknowledging that the discipline’s class system hardens into a caste system when jobs are tight and thus fuels elitism. I conclude by reflecting on the place of standards in local sociology departments and the larger discipline.