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{{Short description|Person who treats others with disdain}}
{{Other uses|Snobs (disambiguation)|The Snob (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Ward McAllister caricature (cropped).jpg|thumb|Caricature of American lawyer and socialite [[Ward McAllister]] (1855–1908) pointing  [[Uncle Sam]] to "an English Snob of the 19th Century" and saying how he must imitate him or "you will nevah be a gentleman". Uncle Sam is shown laughing heartily.]]
'''''Snob''''' is a pejorative term for a person who feels superior due to their [[social class]], education level, or [[social status]] in general;<ref name=debotton>De Botton, A. (2004), ''Status Anxiety''. London: Hamish Hamilton</ref> it is sometimes used especially when they pretend to belong to these classes. The word ''snobbery'' came into use for the first time in England during the 1820s.

== Examples ==

Snobs can through time be found ingratiating themselves with a range of prominent groups – soldiers ([[Sparta]], 400 BCE), bishops (Rome, 1500), poets (Weimar, 1815) – for the primary interest of snobs is distinction, and as its definition changes, so, naturally and immediately, will the objects of the snob's admiration.<ref name= "debotton" />

Snobbery existed also in medieval feudal [[aristocrat]]ic Europe when the clothing, manners, language, and tastes of every class were strictly codified by customs or law. [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], a poet moving in the court circles, noted the provincial French spoken by the [[Prioress]] among the [[Canterbury Tales|Canterbury pilgrims]]:
<blockquote>
And French she spoke full fair and fetisly<br>
After the school of Stratford atte Bowe,<br>
For French of Paris was to her unknowe.
</blockquote>

William Rothwell notes "the simplistic contrast between the 'pure' French of Paris and her 'defective' French of Stratford atte Bowe that would invite disparagement".<ref>Rothwell, "Stratford Atte Bowe re-visited" ''The Chaucer Review'', 2001.</ref>

Snobbery surfaced more strongly as the structure of the society changed, and the [[bourgeoisie]] had the possibility to ''imitate'' [[aristocracy]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gartman |first=David |date=2002 |title=Bourdieu's Theory of Cultural Change: Explication, Application, Critique |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3108649 |journal=Sociological Theory |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=255–277 |doi=10.1111/1467-9558.00162 |jstor=3108649 |issn=0735-2751|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Snobbery appears when elements of culture are perceived as belonging to an aristocracy or elite, and some people (the snobs) feel that the mere adoption of the fashion and tastes of the elite or aristocracy is sufficient to include someone in the elites, upper classes or aristocracy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Friedman |first1=Sam |last2=Reeves |first2=Aaron |date=April 2020 |title=From Aristocratic to Ordinary: Shifting Modes of Elite Distinction |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0003122420912941 |journal=American Sociological Review |language=en |volume=85 |issue=2 |pages=323–350 |doi=10.1177/0003122420912941 |issn=0003-1224|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Snob victim==
The term "snob" is often misused when describing a "gold-tap owner",<ref name="debotton" /> i.e. a person who insists on displaying (sometimes non-existent) wealth through [[conspicuous consumption]] of [[luxury goods]] such as clothes, jewelry, cars etc. Displaying awards or talents in a rude manner, boasting, is a form of snobbery. A popular example of a "snob victim" is the television character [[Hyacinth Bucket]] of the BBC comedy series ''[[Keeping Up Appearances]]''.

== Analysis ==
[[William Hazlitt]] observed, in a culture where deference to class was accepted as a positive and unifying principle,<ref>The social historian [[G.M. Trevelyan]] referred to the deferential principle in British society as "beneficent snobbery", according to Ray 1955:24.</ref> "Fashion is gentility running away from vulgarity, and afraid of being overtaken by it," adding subversively, "It is a sign the two things are not very far apart."<ref>Hazlitt, ''Conversations with Northcote'', quoted in Gordon N. Ray, "Thackeray's 'Book of Snobs'", ''Nineteenth-Century Fiction'' '''10'''.1 (June 1955:22-33) p. 25; Ray examines the context of snobbery in contemporaneous society.</ref> The English novelist [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton|Bulwer-Lytton]] remarked in passing, "Ideas travel upwards, ''manners'' downwards."<!--italics in original--><ref>Bulwer-Lytton, ''England and the English'', noted in Ray 1955:24.</ref> It was not the deeply ingrained and fundamentally accepted idea of "one's betters" that has marked snobbery in traditional European and American culture, but "aping one's betters".

Snobbery is a defensive expression of [[Emotional insecurity|social insecurity]], flourishing most where an [[The Establishment|establishment]] has become less than secure in the exercise of its traditional prerogatives, and thus it was more an organizing principle for Thackeray's glimpses of British society in the threatening atmosphere of the 1840s than it was of Hazlitt, writing in the comparative social stability of the 1820s.<ref>See: Ray 1955:25f.</ref>

==Snobbatives==
[[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] proposes the term ''snobbative'' to refer to a pretentious, highfalutin phrase used by a person in order to sound snobbish. The term derives from ''snob'' + ''-ative'', modelled upon [[Comparison (grammar)|compar'''ative'''s and superl'''ative'''s]]. Thus, in its narrow sense, a ''snobbative'' is a pompous (phonetic) variant of a word. Consider the following [[Hypercorrection|hypercorrect]] pronunciations in [[Israeli Hebrew]]:<ref name=LCLE>[[Ghil'ad Zuckermann|Zuckermann, Ghil'ad]] (2003), [[Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew]], [https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403917232 Palgrave Macmillan] {{ISBN|9781403917232}} / {{ISBN|9781403938695}}</ref>{{rp|184}}

#''kh'''up'''ím'' is a snobbative of ''kh'''of'''ím'' ({{Script/Hebrew|חופים}}), which means "beaches";
#''ts'''o'''rfát'' is a snobbative of ''ts'''a'''rfát'' ({{Script/Hebrew|צרפת}}), which refers to "France";
#'''''a'''mán'' is a snobbative of '''''o'''mán'' ({{Script/Hebrew|אמן}}), which means "artist".<ref name=LCLE/>{{rp|184}}

A non-hypercorrect example in Israeli Hebrew is ''filo'''z'''ófya'', a snobbative of ''filo'''s'''ófya'' ({{Script/Hebrew|פילוסופיה}}), which means "philosophy".<ref name=LCLE/>{{rp|184}} The snobbative ''filo'''z'''ófya'' (with ''z'') was inspired by the pronunciation of the Israeli Hebrew word {{Script/Hebrew|פילוסופיה}} by German Jewish professors of philosophy, whose speech was characterized by [[Consonant voicing and devoicing|intervocalic voicing]] of the ''s'' as in their [[German language|German]] mother tongue.<ref name=LCLE/>{{rp|190}}

==See also==
[[File:The Snob (1921) - Ad 1.jpg|thumb|Ad for the American film ''[[The Snob (1921 film)|The Snob]]'', 1921 film with [[Wanda Hawley]] and [[Walter Hiers]], on inside front cover of the January 30, 1921 ''[[Film Daily]]''.]]
{{Columns-list|colwidth=18em|
* [[Hubris|Arrogance]]
* [[Assertiveness]]
* [[Boasting]], something which is higher in a hierarchical structure of any kind
* [[Confidence]]
* [[Chronological snobbery]]
* [[Classism]]
* [[Contempt]]
* [[Discrimination]]
* [[Egotism]]
* [[Elitism]]
* [[Emotional insecurity]]
* [[Entitlement (psychology)|Entitlement]]
* [[Envy]]
* [[Four Yorkshiremen sketch]]
* [[Greed]]
* [[Inferiority complex]]
* [[Jealousy]]
* [[Narcissism]]
* [[Prejudice]]
* [[Reputation|Prestige]]
* [[Pride]]
* [[Privilege (social inequality)|Privilege]] 
* [[Prima donna]]
* [[Queen bee (sociology)|Queen bee]]
* [[Respectability]]
* [[Social climber]]
* [[Superior (hierarchy)|Superiority]]
* [[Superiority complex]]
* [[Supremacism|Supremacy]]
*''[[The Book of Snobs]]''
*''[[The Snob (1924 film)|The Snob]]'' (1924 film)
* [[Vanity]]
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050514075848/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0206.epstein.html Joseph Epstein, "In a snob-free zone"]: "Is there a place where one is outside all snobbish concerns&mdash;neither wanting to get in anywhere, nor needing to keep anyone else out?"

===Etymologies===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20010726082802/http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/snob Ask Oxford – Ask the Experts]
*[http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?snob Merriam Webster On-line Dictionary]
*[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=snob On-line Etymology Dictionary]

{{Discrimination}}
{{Narcissism}}
{{Social class}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1820s neologisms]]
[[Category:Class discrimination]]
[[Category:High society (social class)]]
[[Category:Identity politics]]
[[Category:Labeling theory]]
[[Category:Narcissism]]
[[Category:Class-related slurs]]
[[Category:Personality traits]]
[[Category:Prejudices| ]]
[[Category:Social status]]
[[Category:Stereotypes of the upper class]]
[[Category:Terminology of the University of Cambridge]]