tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/snobbery-12519/articlesSnobbery – The Conversation2021-04-21T12:26:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1591002021-04-21T12:26:02Z2021-04-21T12:26:02ZWhy our dislikes should be celebrated as much as our likes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395754/original/file-20210419-19-1ppraal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C26%2C4452%2C2970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reveling in dislike can give us a modicum of control in a world that inundates us with content.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nero-in-the-arena-dooming-a-gladiator-who-has-to-re-enter-news-photo/517331044?adppopup=true">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Millions might tune into the Oscars every year, but I’m always interested in <a href="https://razzies.com/index.html">the Razzies</a>, which recognize spectacular cinematic underachievement. </p>
<p>I’m not the only one who thinks dislikes can be every bit as interesting as likes, either: While the internet and social media are full of praise for fandoms and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annabenyehudarahmanan/2019/04/24/merriam-webster-adds-stan-to-the-dictionary-a-brief-history/?sh=6ede68d3f80f">stans</a>, there’s a deep well of content <a href="https://ew.com/article/2012/08/16/newsroom-smash-glee-hatewatch/">honoring</a> <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/540183/good-riddance-two-half-men-tvs-laziest-sitcom">profound</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-everyone-hates-nickelback-2016-4">dislikes</a>.</p>
<p>Why do deep dislikes matter, and why might it matter, for instance, whether “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6673612/">Dolittle</a>” or “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13989524/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Absolute Proof</a>” wins the Razzie for Worst Picture?</p>
<p>For several years I’ve been trying to answer these questions. Many dislikes of media content are simple and fleeting: Change the channel and they’re gone. But my forthcoming book “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479809981/dislike-minded/">Dislike-Minded: Media, Audiences, and the Dynamics of Taste</a>” aims to explore when and why dislikes can weigh more heavily upon us.</p>
<p>For all the attention heaped on what we like, what we dislike can be just as important, interesting and empowering.</p>
<h2>Dislike as snobbery</h2>
<p>Among academics who have explored dislike – yes, that’s a thing – the most cited work comes from French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674212770">who saw dislike as snobbery</a>. More specifically, he saw all judgments of taste, favorable or not, as performances of class. The rich could justify their place in society, he argued, by claiming to have more refined tastes. Knowing which literature, music or art to praise could signal to others their rightful place at the top of society. </p>
<p>I’d argue that Bourdieu oversimplified in seeing all dislike as snobbery and all snobbery as class-based. But he’s not entirely wrong. In fact, dislikes often scream out elitism, sexism and racism.</p>
<p>Media associated with women – romance or soap operas – might be sneered at as “<a href="https://pittnews.com/article/155304/opinions/opinion-just-say-no-to-chick-flicks/">chick flicks</a>” or “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/22/chick-lit-hate-term-love-genre-fiction-fourth-wave-feminism">chick lit</a>.” Music associated with people of color, like rap, <a href="https://theconversation.com/rap-musics-path-from-pariah-to-pulitzer-95283">is still dismissed</a> as obscene, while country music songs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY8SwIvxj8o">are often derided as all sounding alike</a>. </p>
<p>So many -isms do their work in and through dislikes.</p>
<p>Furthermore, dislikes are often used as a way not to stand apart but to fit in. It means learning the unspoken rules of what’s OK to like or dislike, and to proclaim those likes or dislikes loudly for others to hear. When some of us do swim against the social tide, we might be savvy enough to label our likes as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-guilty-pleasure-of-watching-trashy-tv-40214">guilty pleasures</a>,” which both acknowledges the rules and apologizes for violating them.</p>
<h2>Spitting out what you’re force-fed</h2>
<p>In my research, though, I found that dislike isn’t just a form of snobbery. </p>
<p>My research assistants conducted hourlong interviews with more than 200 people over the course of several years. The interviewees were a diverse group in terms of race and gender. Their ages ranged from the 20s to the 70s. Some were working class, while others were upper class. Yet all tended to actively dislike media content far more when they felt they couldn’t escape it.</p>
<p>Sometimes simply changing the channel isn’t possible. Many people can’t choose the radio station that’s playing at work, the playlist in a grocery store, what’s on the TV at the bar or what’s blaring out of someone’s car window. And certain programs or movies creep into other aspects of people’s lives – think <a href="https://geekandsundry.com/bb-8-oranges-furbacca-and-the-29-weirdest-the-force-awakens-products/">“Star Wars” BB-8 branded oranges</a> or <a href="https://crest.com/en-us/products/toothpaste/kids/crest-kids-toothpaste-featuring-disneys-frozen-ana-and-elsa">“Frozen” toothpaste</a>. </p>
<p>For all the chatter about cancel culture, many consumers are powerless to cancel or even to escape. So when people can’t stand what an item of media represents, its ubiquity can invite criticism or dislike.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A stressed woman pushes a cart down a supermarket aisle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396118/original/file-20210420-21-mrhp10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Much of the media we’re exposed to is out of our control.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-pushing-trolley-in-supermarket-aisle-royalty-free-image/908954-017?adppopup=true">Andy Sacks via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Surely we are all annoyed at least some of the time by some media. But some of us are subjected to more annoyance than others.</p>
<p>A less discussed privilege is the power to control what media is seen or heard, even if only by being “the type of audience” many producers and their funders want to address.</p>
<p>Remote controls, for instance, have long been <a href="https://theclassicdad.com/2018/01/dad-rule-dad-can-handle-operate-tv-remote/">envisioned</a> as an appendage of dads everywhere, with women and kids being given less power to change the channel. Store <a href="http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/how-to-choose-music-for-retail-stores-and-why-it-is-importan.html">playlists</a> are regularly chosen with middle-class customers’ tastes in mind. And people of color are still often <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Watching-While-Black-Centering-Television/dp/0813553865/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=watching+while+black&qid=1618946985&sr=8-1">regarded as niche audiences</a> for much media, with white preferences and interests acting as the default.</p>
<p>Those without as much power in society might be expected to be more actively annoyed, haunted and hounded by media. Everyone turns to media hoping for specific needs and desires to be met, but those who have those needs and desires realized less often are those who might be expected to dislike with passion more often. </p>
<p>Seen this way, speaking about dislikes is an act of resistance – it’s a refusal to allow public space to be conquered by the ads, merchandise and buzz for media that doesn’t connect.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason, to dislike is to acknowledge that much of our media diet is force-fed.</p>
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<h2>Keep your likes close – and your dislikes closer</h2>
<p>Dislike can certainly transform into anger or hate, but it may also take a more playful form. Many reviewers strive for a poetry of putrescence in how they excoriate their objects of dislike. </p>
<p>Three of <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Your_Movie_Sucks/eipZqzyaF0UC?hl=en&gbpv=0">Roger</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Horrible_Experience_of_Unbearable_Leng.html?id=dAwrk5wbvFoC">Ebert’s</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/I_Hated_Hated_Hated_This_Movie.html?id=UwXuJCuQ6q4C">books</a>, for example, collect only his most damning criticism. Parents sharing their disdain with me for Caillou – the whiny children’s character – did so while laughing, not raging. And “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/12/10/7336119/hate-watching-explained">hate-watching</a>,” or watching something to revel in all the ways you despise it, has become a common form of viewing. </p>
<p>Instead of tuning out and turning off, why would someone gleefully watch the object of their dislike and offer a running commentary of damnation?</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="The children's character Caillou sits accompanied by the text 'If 2020 was a child, it would be Caillou.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395594/original/file-20210418-21-1vge5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A meme features the much-derided Caillou.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">https://www.memecreator.org/meme/if-2020-was-a-child-it-would-be-caillou/</span></span>
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<p>Reveling in dislike can reassert control in a world that inundates everyone with content. Keeping the shows, songs and movies the hate-watcher despises close at hand – rather than trying to avoid or repel them – can make them better prosecutors in the court of public opinion. If popular media regularly produce discussion, the hate-watcher is better equipped to poison that well.</p>
<p>Or some dislikers might enjoy their dislikes as a way to avoid their corroding certain relationships. Many of us can probably relate to the experience of having a friend, partner or family member who insists we watch something against our will. </p>
<p>What if, rather than resenting the show or the person, we simply embrace it in all of its cringeworthy glory?</p>
<p>Impassioned dislike can be too easily mistaken for hate and anger, but it is a distinct reaction: Nobody at the Razzies will be pounding their fists, red-faced, on the podium as they present. </p>
<p>By all means, heed the colloquial advice to “ignore the haters.” But a lot can be learned by listening to the dislikers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159100/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Gray does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Loudly proclaiming your dislikes isn’t snobbery. There can be a power and poetry to putrescence.Jonathan Gray, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1040962018-10-05T13:32:38Z2018-10-05T13:32:38ZFrida Kahlo to Rihanna: there’s a reason eye-catching brows are front and centre<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238916/original/file-20181002-85632-1pacqqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C102%2C586%2C508&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Frida Kahlo: self-portrait with Bonito.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Irina via Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is the subject of a major exhibition at London’s V&A museum, which has been running since July and <a href="https://fashionunited.uk/news/culture/inside-the-frida-kahlo-exhibition-at-the-v-a/2018061430221">tells the story of her life</a> through more than 200 artefacts and clothing. Among the items on display is the eyebrow pencil she used to accentuate the monobrow which – along with her instantly recognisable colourful costumes and the flowers with which she habitually dressed her hair – became her trademark, with which she stressed her indigenous heritage.</p>
<p>I am a specialist in Mexican studies, so Kahlo’s life and work are important to me. So too is the work of another famous Mexican woman of the period, María Félix. An unlikely friend of Kahlo’s, Félix was more conventionally glamorous, and was the biggest film star of Mexican cinema’s “golden age”. Her defined eyebrow arch and its predominance in her performances led me to consider the significance of the brow on screen. </p>
<p>As a Liverpool-based academic, my attention has also been drawn to the “Scousebrow” – a term bandied about on social media. It’s a product of the scripted reality show <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/desperate-scousewives">Desperate Scousewives (2011-12)</a> and, shortlived as the series was, the term has lasted. A Scousebrow describes a brow that is arched, highly structured, tinted or drawn above the brow line, darker than the wearer’s natural hair colour and clearly artificial. This stylised look is not unique to the Scousebrow, but it has led to an unjustified level of abuse and mockery.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"141284202686578688"}"></div></p>
<p>Ironically, just as the <a href="https://brewsnbrows.wordpress.com/2018/04/16/where-did-scousebrow-originate/">Scousebrow</a> was being <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2074240/Kate-Middletons-Scouse-Brow-Why-Duchess-Cambridge-got-WAGs-eyebrows.html">ridiculed by the press</a>, model Cara Delevigne’s <a href="https://www.marieclaire.com/beauty/hair/a9511/cara-delevingne-eyebrows-tutorial/">thick, groomed brows</a> were being <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/cara-delevingne-actress-july-2015-cover">celebrated as natural</a> by high-end fashion magazines. Just like Kahlo’s monobrow, Delevigne’s carefully cultivated brow is presented as “natural”, while the Scousebrow (like Félix’s) is erroneously read as “false”. So, when it comes to eyebrows, it seem that beauty is being defined by social class.</p>
<p>So, in April 2018 we launched the “<a href="https://brewsnbrows.wordpress.com/">Brews and Brows</a>” project, a collaboration between the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, Edge Hill University and Manchester Metropolitan University which aimed to develop a new way of looking – and talking about – eyebrows. As people came into our Brow Booth, or had 3D scans done of their brows, multiple stories emerged about how people feel about their brows.</p>
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<p>There’s no doubt that brows are a big thing: last year the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/35cc5a98-00d2-11e6-99cb-83242733f755">Financial Times estimated</a> that the eyebrow “industry” in the UK was worth more than £20m – and, when Scottish comedian Gary Meikle recorded a vlog in September about his daughter’s obsession with her eyebrows and asked: “When did eyebrows become the most important part of a woman’s body?” it went viral. The vlog attracted more than 15m views (“three times the population of Scotland”, as one of his Twitter fans noted).</p>
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<p>Meikle’s vlog is part of a wider conversation taking place around the brow that is gradually getting more attention beyond the beauty pages. It is also about a broader question about how women’s beauty is perceived and policed. </p>
<p>So it was interesting to see the reaction when British Vogue began to promote its September fashion" issue with Rihanna on the cover. Her skinny brows provoked an <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/8/1/17640286/rihanna-skinny-brows-vogue">enormous debate</a> in the media. As a vocal advocate of black beauty, her skinny brows are a shift away from her “natural” fuller brows and a return to the artifice and thinness of the 1990s more associated with white actors, such as, Courtney Cox as Monica in Friends during its heyday. </p>
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<h2>Brows and brews</h2>
<p>The “Brow Booth” was modelled on a photography booth, where participants could sit in and tell us their brow stories individually or in pairs. Mothers interviewed daughters about their practices or shared what they learnt from one another. Friends prompted one another about funny stories from the past. We heard poignant stories of loss and pragmatic solutions to ageing (considerable hair growth in most men and thinning for women). One such story came from a woman fed up with plucking and grooming who got her brows micro-bladed (temporary tattoo) “to save on all that faffing around”. </p>
<p>From the men and women who have visited our “Brow Booth” we’ve heard stories of evolving fashion trends and practices, plucking and growing back, hair loss and surgical intervention. As one contributor said, “I used to check my mascara before I left the house, now it’s all about the eyebrows”. While we have gathered and analyse significant data, our project continues and the stories are still emerging. But the eyebrow is clearly a micro-detail that reveals much about how we feel about ourselves and an awareness of how we groom (or don’t groom) is read by others. Our findings support research into early human cultures about how our brows are <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-evolutionary-advantage-of-having-eyebrows-94599">integral to us</a> as social beings – we use them to express emotion, recognition, belief or disbelief – but what is clear it that, within this evolutionary function, there are constant shifts and changes in what we like in a brow. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-evolutionary-advantage-of-having-eyebrows-94599">The evolutionary advantage of having eyebrows</a>
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<p>For some years now the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/feb/27/power-brows-bold-eyebrows-perfect-instagram-five-steps">Instabrow</a>” has been in fashion – a well-tended, arched, clearly defined brow structured through carefully artistry and use of specialist products (which explains that £20m industry). And the brow has gradually evolved from thin to thick – although, who knows, Rihanna might change all that, such is her power as an “influencer”. </p>
<p>But what we are hearing through our research is how telling a detail the eyebrow can be and how it challenges assumptions about beauty. From Kahlo’s monobrow to the Instabrow to, perhaps, a return to the sculpted brow championed by Rihanna, fashions change – even if what we convey with our eyebrows doesn’t. So, to answer Meikle’s question: eyebrows have always been one of the most important parts of a woman’s body, even if we haven’t paid enough attention to them before. If you’ve never thought about your brows, you are one of very few – and if you’ve never talked about them, we are keen to listen and share.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niamh Thornton's Brews and Brows project receives funding from the University of Liverpool discretionary fund and Liverpool John Moores University QR fund. She also receives support from the AHRC Student Cohort Fund and the ESRC via Methods North West and <a href="mailto:engage@Liverpool">engage@Liverpool</a>.</span></em></p>Monobrow, Instabrow, Scousebrow: here’s one facial feature that deserves more attention.Niamh Thornton, Reader in Latin American Studies, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/984182018-06-19T13:39:14Z2018-06-19T13:39:14ZLove Island: audience reaction shows deep snobbery about accents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223813/original/file-20180619-126550-1tu5p3f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ITV2</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now that the current crop of inmates disporting themselves around <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-love-island-is-the-best-kept-guilty-secret-on-british-television-97409">Love Island</a> have settled in, members of the mainstream and social media have been passing judgement on the “islanders”. While I’m by no means a regular viewer of the show, as a sociolinguist, it is the comments that are being made about the way some of the contestants sound that have really caught my attention. </p>
<p>Linguistic discrimination, also called <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13613324.2016.1150827?journalCode=cree20">linguicism</a>, is discrimination against somebody based on their use of language. This can include their vocabulary, the sound of their accent, or their grammar.</p>
<p>When the show started at the beginning of June, 11 young people moved into their luxury accommodation on the island and immediately social media lit up with people passing judgement on their demeanour, their looks, body language and what they had to say. From a sociolinguistic point of view, it’s been easy to predict who of the 11 would receive the most criticism – there’s a <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/attitudes-language?format=HB&isbn=9780521766043#2jV0PjqZX16Hlue6.97">body of research</a> to back this up and, for anybody who has studied this, there were few surprises.</p>
<p>In general, speakers with more standard southern accents are less criticised, and those with accents that we are socially conditioned <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-some-accents-sound-better-than-others-77732">to think of</a> as funny, friendly, and socially attractive, such as Welsh, Scottish and Newcastle accents, also get off lightly.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-some-accents-sound-better-than-others-77732">Why do some accents sound better than others?</a>
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<p>However, the Liverpool accent is frequently found near the bottom of the list when people are asked to rate how much they like the sound of different accents. One young islander, Hayley – from Liverpool – has been widely criticised on Twitter. Viewers have variously stated that her voice is “annoying”, “cringeworthy”, “makes [your] skin crawl”.</p>
<p>Hayley’s speech prompted one viewer to ask the twitterverse: “What level of education does this girl have” because “it’s so difficult listening to [her] speak.” Another tweeter left this tweet:</p>
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<p>Now, if I were someone who discriminated against someone because of their language, I’d be pointing out that the last sentence in that tweet needs some punctuation – and by the way it’s “you’re embarrassing”. There’s more than a sprinkling of irony in someone being a language pedant and then getting it “wrong” while doing so. And while Hayley might <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/love-island-2018-brexit-hayley-trees_uk_5b1b87f8e4b0adfb82695492">say some surprising things</a>, it tends to be her accent that people queue up to criticise.</p>
<h2>Common complaint</h2>
<p>Links between a lack of education and use of language have long been used as justification for oppression and control of people by the dominant ruling classes throughout history. Whether it be putting down the Welsh <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/72d77f69-72a7-3626-9c19-469c91f45753">Treachery of the Blue Books</a> (where it was falsely concluded in 1847 that the Welsh were ignorant, lazy and immoral, and that their use of the Welsh language was partly responsible) or whether it is used as a tool of the class system, language snobbery is and has been used to oppress people.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223989/original/file-20180620-137728-1h1oj55.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223989/original/file-20180620-137728-1h1oj55.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223989/original/file-20180620-137728-1h1oj55.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223989/original/file-20180620-137728-1h1oj55.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223989/original/file-20180620-137728-1h1oj55.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223989/original/file-20180620-137728-1h1oj55.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223989/original/file-20180620-137728-1h1oj55.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hayley Hughes has been abused on social media because of having a Liverpudlian accent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ITV2</span></span>
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<p>Unfortunately, accent prejudice is now so deeply ingrained within us that it’s incredibly frequent to hear speakers describing themselves as sounding “common”. I spend much of my teaching time at university trying to get my first year students to understand that there is no such thing as a “common”-sounding or “bad” or “correct” accent – but in fact these are societal norms that have been imposed on us.</p>
<h2>Like it or not</h2>
<p>Back on Love Island, another islander who received negative attention was Niall from Coventry. His voice was criticised for being annoying – but, according to Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan, Niall’s biggest crime was his use of the word “like”. The presenter demanded that a clip of Niall be played several times. He also mocked Niall’s West Midlands accent by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kekLukjDLQ">doing an impression</a> that sounded more like a really bad stereotype of a West Country farmer (or Worzel Gummidge if you’re from my generation): </p>
<blockquote>
<p>But like I didn’t actually like say to her like before she went like anything like I didn’t say like …</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The use of the word “like” is currently one of the most stigmatised aspects of linguistic variation. Its use is generally attributed by non-linguists to adolescents and young people – when it is often perceived as a sign of lexical indecision, perhaps through having a small vocabulary or just not knowing what you want to say. However, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/11/the-evolution-of-like/507614/">research shows</a> that the use of like in utterances always performs a function. It frequently acts as a marker that may be used to sustain or repair a sentence, link information in the utterance together, or alternatively mark a boundary between the different points the speaker is making.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223815/original/file-20180619-126531-fvbp7i.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223815/original/file-20180619-126531-fvbp7i.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223815/original/file-20180619-126531-fvbp7i.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223815/original/file-20180619-126531-fvbp7i.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223815/original/file-20180619-126531-fvbp7i.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223815/original/file-20180619-126531-fvbp7i.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223815/original/file-20180619-126531-fvbp7i.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Niall, from the West Midlands: criticised because of his use of the word ‘like’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ITV2</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like receives so much attention that there’s even a book on “<a href="https://benjamins.com/catalog/slcs.187">800 years of like</a>”. In the book, Canadian linguist <a href="http://web.uvic.ca/%7Eadarcy/web%20documents/DArcy%202005.pdf">Alexandra D’Arcy</a> details the different uses of like, the fact that there is a long history of use of like by speakers of all ages, and dispels a number of the myths and stereotypes associated with it.</p>
<h2>Class act</h2>
<p>It would be easy to dismiss the comments about the Love Islanders as a bit of fun, but there is a much darker side to linguistic discrimination. In the US, a <a href="https://source.wustl.edu/2006/02/linguistic-profiling-the-sound-of-your-voice-may-determine-if-you-get-that-apartment-or-not/">study showed</a> that some potential employers, real estate agents, loan officers and service providers linguistically profile callers responding to adverts, despite this being against federal and state law. </p>
<p>Although we now hear more regional dialects on the TV and radio, more than a quarter of Britons <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/2013-09-25/28-of-britons-feel-discriminated-against-due-to-accent/">feel discriminated against</a> because of their accent. Teachers feel that they need to change their accent to be taken more seriously and teachers with northern accents have even been <a href="https://schoolsimprovement.net/teachers-northern-accents-told-posh-heres/">told to “posh up”</a>. Experts in their field face prejudice because of their accents – including my colleague Katie Edwards, who <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11270980/British-universities-Im-fed-up-of-being-ridiculed-for-my-regional-accent.html">has spoken out</a> over times she has felt that she can’t be taken seriously as an academic with her Doncaster accent. </p>
<p>Even masters of their craft have been typecast and discriminated against just because of the way that they speak, such as the acclaimed actor Maxine Peake – who was told to <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/maxine-peake-accent-interview-guardian-12963558">lose her Bolton accent</a> because the character she was auditioning for had been to university. The list goes on.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PcIX-U5w5Ws?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>So why can we not seem to shake our prejudices about dialects? Well, part of the issue is that by now, these attitudes are so deeply ingrained within us that we all tend to believe the hype. Our standard language ideology maintains that standard accents are associated with the upper classes, privilege, education and opportunity. </p>
<p>Despite John Major’s <a href="https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107871">1990 declaration</a> that the former prime minister wanted Britain to be a classless society, <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/05/03/the-long-read-the-working-class-hasnt-gone-away-by-ron-johnston/">more recent evidence</a> indicates that class divides are just as bad as before. And unfortunately, it seems that linguistic discrimination really is one of the last acceptable forms of prejudice.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-love-island-is-the-best-kept-guilty-secret-on-british-television-97409">Why Love Island is the best kept guilty secret on British television</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98418/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gerry Howley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Viewers are taking to Twitter to display their prejudice about Islanders’ accents.Gerry Howley, Teaching Associate in Sociolinguistics, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/953192018-04-23T12:21:24Z2018-04-23T12:21:24ZToffee Dating: why I won’t be using the new ‘private school only’ app<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215914/original/file-20180423-133876-194z3z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/welldressed-couple-beautiful-alley-308974538?src=jSEBZidDMJ36WHtc5-gX-g-1-0">Nejron Photo via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I do sympathise with Lydia Davis, who <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/83dbf3ae-429a-11e8-93cf-67ac3a6482fd">has launched a new dating app</a> called Toffee Dating, “for people on the posher end of the spectrum”. She was tired of feeling “overwhelmed” at the “dearth of potential partners” and thought others might feel the same. Others who, having been to private school, found themselves more alone than ever after endless internet-enabled dates with people that, one assumes, were educated at state school. </p>
<p>By its very name, Toffee Dating makes clear the sort invited to pay its £4.99 download fee and £4.99 monthly membership: not just those who were privately educated, but those who believe that their fee-paying school background is the very key to their essential being. Toffee is to help toffs better twiddle that key.</p>
<p>But as I say, I do sympathise. The sense of swimming through a sea of romantic junk food, subsisting on a diet of a piece of fried chicken here, a cheeseburger there, also hit me the second I turned to internet dating when a lengthy relationship ended in July 2016.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215915/original/file-20180423-133884-kkka4b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215915/original/file-20180423-133884-kkka4b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215915/original/file-20180423-133884-kkka4b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215915/original/file-20180423-133884-kkka4b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215915/original/file-20180423-133884-kkka4b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215915/original/file-20180423-133884-kkka4b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215915/original/file-20180423-133884-kkka4b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Classy: screenshot of Toffee Dating’s Facebook page.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ToffeeDating/Facebook</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After an initial and horrifying initial deep dive into a number of websites, as well as Tinder, the urge to cut out the dross was very strong indeed. At one end of the spectrum I didn’t think I could handle one more over-confident stud demanding instant sex, or at the other, another pretentiously lefty charity worker or architect deigning to arrange a date with me at snail-like speed and then, once on the date, telling me all about his love of some bearded songster I’d never heard of.</p>
<p>I too would have jumped at the chance to narrow down the field to people like me. My dream utterance would have gone something like this: “Zoe, you’ll never need to meet another pushy hornball or guitar-playing Oxfam strategist again. There’s this new app that caters to people exactly like you: intellectual snobs with lots of degrees who hate prosecco and love champagne and Margaret Thatcher!”</p>
<p>Somehow I persisted, though, and soon noticed something funny – whenever I tried a dating service that purported to be socially exclusive in any way, I made fewer and worse matches.</p>
<h2>Radley meets Roedean</h2>
<p>Which brings me to why Davis’s idea, however good it sounds, is doomed to fail. First, when it comes to dating, promises of social exclusivity are bunk. Not only was this evident in my experience, it also emerged in the <a href="http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/71609/">PhD research</a> I was conducting at the time about the British matchmaking industry in the 1970s and 1980s. The dating entrepreneurs I studied all boasted about how exclusive their outfits were, but when I interviewed people who had actually used these services, they all said their dates were no better – and often worse – than the ones they encountered in less exalted forums. </p>
<p>It is striking that 60% of my interviewees used personal ads and computer dating services designed for the “hoi polloi” and 40% used “exclusive” agencies. Of the former, roughly 75% found love in some form; of the latter, only about 25% did. In the internet era, digital scholars have <a href="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/archive/downloads/publications/Me-MySpouse_GlobalReport.pdf">highlighted</a> the importance of the sheer quantity of options available online – it’s not by whittling down possible dates that people tend to find love. </p>
<h2>Perfect match?</h2>
<p>The reason, of course, is that dating is not like furniture or truffles or perfume – you can’t just get to the “right” shop and find the perfect product at the going rate. Dating services trade on people and, more specifically, on people’s perceptions of themselves and how they come across – which they get wrong most of the time. Narrowing the pool down to those who think they’re brilliant is therefore asking for trouble. When it comes to partner searching, you actually need the rough so that you can find the diamonds.</p>
<p>Then there’s the fact that schooling is a ridiculous metric for assessing someone’s suitability. As I’ve already made plain, I am a complete snob. But the idea that someone having paid to put you through Radley or Gordonstoun (or in my case, Bedales for A-levels) indelibly marks you with a unique kind of quality is painful. Anyone with half an ounce of decency must know that your school’s price tag has very little to do with your <a href="https://www.rd.com/advice/relationships/survey-reveals-top-dating-trait/">intelligence, character, humour, kindness and ambition</a> – the most important traits in a partner.</p>
<p>Some <a href="http://www.smf.co.uk/publications/open-access-an-independent-evaluation/">studies have suggested</a> that private school equips pupils with a confidence that gives them a professional boost, but so what? Most of the best people I know – cleverest, funniest, most interesting – went to state school. By contrast, trying to get through dinner with “Henry, Wellington College” or “Toby, Charterhouse” sounds as if it may be a bit painful.</p>
<h2>Vive la difference!</h2>
<p>Yes, I’ve had my share of awful and degrading run-ins with the masses on Tinder, but I’ve also met fascinating men, including my most recent (ex) boyfriend – none of whom had remotely similar schooling to me. In the end, the best thing about Tinder and its ilk is their variety. Once you’ve waded through the dross, it can actually be enriching, mind expanding and very attractive to find someone from a different background. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609091/first-evidence-that-online-dating-is-changing-the-nature-of-society/">major recent study</a> backed this up by finding that dating apps have resulted in unprecedented rates of mixed-race marriages. When given the chance, the researchers asserted, it’s difference – not sameness – that we crave. Just ask <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/a9664508/prince-harry-meghan-markle-relationship/">Prince Harry and Megan Markle</a> – hardly a match made in Toffee Dating heaven.</p>
<p>I wish Davis and her band of lonely toffs well – but if they are anything like me, it may well not be long till they’re all back on Tinder again.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95319/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoe Strimpel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows that it’s all about choice, not exclusivity, when it comes to finding a perfect match.Zoe Strimpel, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/320372014-10-16T00:29:08Z2014-10-16T00:29:08ZSnobbery in the academy is alive and well and doing harm<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59998/original/hpdp55m8-1411620228.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If you've ever felt as though professors treat you with less than respect, you're probably not alone.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A female engineering student walked into her first lab class. One of the male students said: “The cookery class is in another room.”</p>
<p>A professor was always willing to drop everything to talk with a colleague. But when one of his research assistants contacted him, he would say to come back later.</p>
<p>A student wanted to do a survey and commented to a mathematician friend: “I think I’ll seek advice from some sociologists.” The mathematician responded: “What would they know about it?”</p>
<p>Snobbery is a sense of superiority or exclusiveness, often expressed with condescending comments or actions that reject others. Snobbery is found throughout societies. Some people look down on those with less money or who live in a low-status suburb or who don’t speak with the right accent.</p>
<p>Then there is snobbery about countries, films, food, manners and knowledge. “Don’t tell me you listen to country music!”</p>
<h2>Snobbery in universities</h2>
<p>You might imagine that universities would be free of snobbery, because everyone is involved in a quest for knowledge and scholars are supposed to make judgements about ideas, not about people. Anyone who has been around people in universities will soon hear plenty of stories to the contrary.</p>
<p>When we started investigating academic snobbery, we discovered that everyone we spoke to had a story to tell. There were stories about arrogant professors, about snooty students and about individuals who thought they were superior to just about anyone. There are some relevant writings about <a href="https://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&title_id=11623&edition_id=11986">emotions in academia</a> and, more bluntly, about “<a href="http://thesiswhisperer.com/2013/02/13/academic-assholes/">academic arseholes</a>”. </p>
<p>Academic snobbery comes in multiple forms - for instance, connected with a person’s university, field of study or position. Teachers who are on short-term contracts may not be treated as real colleagues. At conferences junior scholars may be ignored by leading figures in the field. </p>
<p>Those at the bottom of the status hierarchy are invisible. This sort of environment breeds snobbery.</p>
<p>Many students gain their sense of value from their peers and from their achievements at school and university. Snide comments about their clothes, tastes and intellectual skills can be deeply hurtful.</p>
<p>However, this type of snobbery has consequences beyond the immediate effects on people’s emotions. When teachers make belittling comments about students, it can cause some students to quit. Some junior scholars may even reject an academic career because of the patronising attitudes of senior figures. </p>
<p>Another possible consequence for universities is that relevant questions and concerns are not addressed because they don’t come from the right sorts of people. Or research findings may be ignored because they come from the wrong discipline. </p>
<p>Snobbery is not good for universities in another way. If members of the public think academics are inflated with self-importance, they are less likely to support universities when it comes to funding or academic freedom.</p>
<h2>What to do?</h2>
<p>One of the challenges is that those who behave snobbishly often don’t even realise it. They believe they really are superior. They make comments that are condescending without even thinking about it.</p>
<p>Some say: “Just ignore the snobbery. Don’t let it affect you.” That’s easier said than done. </p>
<p>Aside from advice to ignore snobbery, what can be done? There’s lots of research about envy, scorn, inequality, groupishness and other relevant topics, <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/envy-scorn-down">some of it</a> very insightful. However, it seems that researchers have paid little attention to practical techniques to counter snobbery.</p>
<p>We drew some insights from the work of <a href="http://kilden.forskningsradet.no/c16881/artikkel/vis.html?tid=55475">Berit Ås</a> and from a body of research on <a href="http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/backfire.html">tactics against injustice</a>, and came up with a set of possible <a href="http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/14aur.html">responses to snobbery</a>. </p>
<p>One option is simply to avoid people who are snobbish, though this isn’t always possible. Another option is to make a formal complaint, but this may be seen as over-reacting.</p>
<p>Then there is reverse snobbery. Imagine one student saying to another: “I can understand why you want to study medicine, but I decided on visual arts because it’s more challenging.” The trouble is that reverse snobbery doesn’t do anything to stop snobbery more generally.</p>
<p>Directly challenging snobbish comments is a delicate operation. You might try the serious, rational approach of countering condescending comments. In response to a colleague’s derogatory comment about a lower-status university, you might say: “Actually, there is plenty of good work being done there.” </p>
<p>Our favourite option is to counter snobbery by using humour. After a “centre of excellence” involving just a few academics was set up in a department, one of those left out put a sign on his door: “Peripheral mediocrity.” </p>
<p>Just because snobbery is such an everyday matter doesn’t mean we should ignore it. It can have quite damaging effects. </p>
<p>For those who care about creating a more inclusive, equal society where people try to help each other to improve, it is worth practising skills to avoid, counter or deflate snobbery. Changes are also needed in cultures and organisations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A female engineering student walked into her first lab class. One of the male students said: “The cookery class is in another room.” A professor was always willing to drop everything to talk with a colleague…Brian Martin, Professor of Social Sciences, University of WollongongMajken Jul Sørensen, PhD Student, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.