ivory towers
Detached intellectual retreats
An ivory tower is a place of privileged detachment from practical concerns—typically academia or intellectual circles seen as removed from everyday realities.
The phrase is usually critical: Economists in their ivory towers don't understand how real people live.
Someone can be accused of living in an ivory tower when their ideas seem untested by practical experience.
- academiaHigher education community
- OxbridgeCombined name, two universities
- solitudeState of being alone
- insularityNarrow detachment from broader views
- intellectualismEmphasis on reasoning pursuits
abstract thinking · scholarship · seclusion · detachment · theoretical · armchair philosopher · fellows · rarefied · isolation · contemplation · metaphorically · education · privileged · tenure track · publish or perish · out of touch · real world · town and gown
- Crassulasjade plant, minima, watch chain, calico kitten, Tom Thumb
ivory towersgrassroots
Common people as political base
ground level · boots on the ground · in the field · Main Street · everyday life
ivory towershands-on experience
Learning through direct involvement
practical knowledge · school of hard knocks · street smarts · applied learning · trial and error