A new breed of snobbery is on the rise and threatening to derail attempts in the workplace and broader community to ensure diversity and inclusion.
Once a label reserved exclusively for those with significant wealth, prestige and status, financial horsepower is no longer needed to become a snob.
We have simply transferred our holier-than-thou ways to other fields of endeavours to leave the newer forms of snobbery without boundaries.
Snobs come in a wide variety of species partly because becoming one is so easy — all you need is something to be snobbish about and somebody to be snobbish towards.
Today’s society is home to beer snobs, wine snobs, coffee snobs, food snobs and supermarket snobs alongside fashion snobs, artistic snobs, academic snobs, cat snobs and musical snobs.
There is also a large number of judging-people-on-where-they-live snobs, where-they-were-born snobs and where-they-went-to-school snobs. And there are also the I-don’t-do-public-transport snobs, the I’m-so-good-looking-don’t-even-bother-talking-to-me snobs and the if-you-don’t-play-sport-you’re-out-of-my-social-circle snobs.
The point is that modern snobbery encompasses a vast array of types.
We can experience being intellectually snobbed, architecturally snobbed, religiously snobbed, gastronomically snobbed and creatively snobbed.
You get snobbed when a snob expresses, by action or no action, their contempt for you because they do not believe you are worthy of their time or attention.
Being a snob should not be confused with a person who has expertise, enthusiasm or excitement for something in their life.
A taste for fine wine does not translate to being a wine snob. Living in one of the most expensive suburbs does not maketh the residential snob. And a love of paintings does not create an art snob.
But how that expertise, enthusiasm or excitement is portrayed and used will determine exactly how snobnoxious (think: being snobby in an obnoxious way) an individual really is.
The modern snob is someone who attaches exaggerated importance to some superficial trait they themselves suggest they possess.
The snob views others who do not demonstrate the trait less favourably, looks down their nose at them and tries to establish superiority by denigrating the habits of those they consider to be lesser beings.
While there might be a humorous side to the diversity of snobs that we encounter in everyday life, snobbery does little to help our efforts to include others.
Snobbery creates boundaries based on superficial or arbitrary criteria, which can lead to exclusion and marginalisation of those who do not have or want access to what a snob claims to have.
The wine snob is not prepared to have drinks with those who only consume cheap wine. The fashion snob resists being seen out with others who do not wear designer labels. The academic snob refuses to employ someone in a management role without a university qualification, despite the candidate’s depth of relevant experience.
It is time we put snobbery to one side and focused on admiring others rather than admonishing them.
It starts with being aware of the impact snobbery has on individuals, accepting tastes and styles different to our own, being respectful of others and making a concerted effort to spend time with people from all walks of life.
This is how we will edge towards an inclusive — as opposed to exclusionary — community.
Professor Gary Martin is the CEO of AIM WA and a workplace and social affairs expert