anti-intellectualism
Distrust of thinkers
Anti-intellectualism is distrust or hostility toward intellectuals, experts, and intellectual pursuits.
It dismisses academic knowledge, scientific expertise, or complex thinking in favor of common sense, practical experience, or gut instinct: The candidate's anti-intellectualism played well with voters who resented coastal elites.
The attitude runs deep in certain strains of American culture, positioning book learning as suspect and ordinary folk wisdom as authentic.
Purposely remaining uninformed
- incuriosityAbsence of inquisitiveness
- closed-mindednessRefusal to consider other views
- anti-scienceOpposition to empirical methodology
- denialismRejection of established facts
misinformation · disinformation · conspiracy theory · pseudoscience · superstition · credulity · gullibility · obscurantism
Absence of confidence
- resentmentPersistent bitter displeasure
- contemptDisdainful disregard
- disdainScornful disregard
- scornHostile dismissive feeling
derision · backlash · suspicion · dismissiveness · ridicule · mockery · sneering · belittling
Lacking refinement or education
- lowbrowLacking intellectual depth
- middlebrowAverage cultural taste
- anti-artRejection of conventional aesthetics
- materialismPrioritizing goods over spirit
utilitarianism · practicality · liberal arts · ivory tower · impractical · navel-gazing · pretentious · snobbery
Preference for privileged rule
- ivory towerSheltered intellectual enclave
- common manTypical ordinary citizen
- grassrootsCommon people as political base
- folk wisdomTraditional communal knowledge
real people · street smarts · practical knowledge · working class · heartland · everyman · down-to-earth · salt of the earth
Strict adherence to core tenets
- authoritarianismConcentrated, unchecked governmental power
- totalitarianismState controls everything absolutely
- book burningIncinerating texts as censorship
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
propaganda · indoctrination · dogmatism · orthodoxy · conformity · groupthink · thought control · anti-modernism
willful ignorance
Purposely remaining uninformed
- incuriosityAbsence of inquisitiveness
- closed-mindednessRefusal to consider other views
- anti-scienceOpposition to empirical methodology
denialism · misinformation · disinformation · conspiracy theory · pseudoscience · superstition · credulity · gullibility · obscurantism · benightedness
distrust
Absence of confidence
- resentmentPersistent bitter displeasure
- contemptDisdainful disregard
- disdainScornful disregard
scorn · derision · backlash · suspicion · dismissiveness · ridicule · mockery · sneering · belittling · condescension
uncultured
Lacking refinement or education
- lowbrowLacking intellectual depth
- middlebrowAverage cultural taste
- anti-artRejection of conventional aesthetics
materialism · utilitarianism · practicality · liberal arts · ivory tower · impractical · navel-gazing · pretentious · snobbery · highbrow
elitism
Preference for privileged rule
- ivory towerSheltered intellectual enclave
- common manTypical ordinary citizen
- grassrootsCommon people as political base
real people · folk wisdom · street smarts · practical knowledge · working class · heartland · everyman · down-to-earth · salt of the earth · book smart
fundamentalism
Strict adherence to core tenets
- authoritarianismConcentrated, unchecked governmental power
- totalitarianismState controls everything absolutely
- book burningIncinerating texts as censorship
censorship · propaganda · indoctrination · dogmatism · orthodoxy · conformity · groupthink · thought control · anti-modernism · reactionary
- denialismclimate denial, Holocaust denial, vaccine denial, denialism, anti-science
- philistinismboorishness, tastelessness, uncouthness
- mindsetsgrowth mindset, fixed mindset, mindset, abundance mindset, scarcity mindset
- populismpopulism, demagogue, demagoguery, anti-elitism, anti-establishment
- societal decaydecline, decay, degradation, degeneration, deterioration
- unreasonirrationalism, irrationality, unreason, illogic, anti-rationalism
anti-intellectualismintellectualism
Emphasis on reasoning pursuits
love of learning · intellectuals · rationalism · academicism · bookishness
anti-intellectualismenlightenment values
Ideals from spiritual awakening
technocracy · meritocracy · scientism · rationalism · Enlightenment values
intelligent, intellectual, intellect, intelligible, intellectuals, intelligibility, intelligentsia, intellectualism, intellectualize