Elitism in EA sparks strong emotions in people, and I worry that we are talking past each other. Rather than asking whether EA "is elitist" (which means different things to different people), this survey focuses on specific experiences and feelings to get to the real substance of the matter.
This takes 5-30 minutes and your perspective matters. Feel free to skip the detailed descriptions if you want to save time. The survey covers thirteen key areas with contrasting viewpoints.
Here’s a list of actions you can take if you want to help:
- Click the “Agree” or “Disagree” button (NOT the karma arrows) on perspectives that resonate (or don’t) with your experience.
- To be clear:
- “Agree” if you find the perspective more resonant than not.
- “Disagree” if you find the perspective more dissonant than not.
- If you're unsure, don't click either button.
- Feel free to agree or disagree with one, both, or neither.
- Use the karma arrows only to upvote/downvote this entire post based on whether you think more/less Forum users should see it.
- Please do NOT agree/disagree or change your agree/disagree votes after June 30th, 2025.
- To be clear:
- Feel free to add missing perspectives! And agree/disagree with those too.
- If you’d like to be anonymous, please DM me.
- If you think this survey is valuable, please share this with your friends in the EA movement who may have thoughts/feelings about elitism.
Some additional thoughts that might helpful (feel free to skip):
- Even if you feel like an “elite” in the EA movement, please still participate! You might still find some of the perspectives below resonant or dissonant.
- If a perspective resonates with you even if you find it irrational, please still agree-vote it. I’m trying to capture the “vibes”, not necessarily what participants’ most accurate beliefs are.
- I worry that participants might dramatically change things about themselves based on other participants’ answers. Specifically, I would like people not to over-update their memories, or over-adjust their behaviour in either direction. The survey results are unlikely representative of the EA movement, and it’s likely to select for the following groups:
- People with strong feelings (especially negative ones) about elitism
- More active EA Forum users
- Furthermore, I’m using the EA Forum’s question post as an experimental survey. I expect many things to go wrong.
- Evaluations and comparisons of people can elicit strong feelings and I worry that participants might develop an “us vs them” dynamic. So, please remember to embody a scout mindset.
- I suspect this survey has a negative lean towards elitism. If some of my writings seem like I’m ascribing a negative value judgement to elitism or prescribing an intervention to reduce elitism, they’re not. I’m mostly trying to get a sense of how people feel about elitism.
This investigation is supported by the EA Infrastructure Fund.
The preview image is from Nikita Vasilevskiy.
6.b. I feel valued and capable within EA regardless of my background.
Needs fulfilled: equality, to be seen, to matter, belongingness
Associated emotions: satisfaction, confidence, gratefulness
Description: "I'm grateful for how EA has welcomed me and valued my contributions, even though I don't have an impressive background. Whilst many EAs are highly accomplished, I've found that the community is generally humble and appreciates diverse forms of contribution. I received funding/opportunities based purely on the merit of my proposal and accomplishments. My posts on the EA Forum receive thoughtful engagement. What I particularly appreciate is that EA values different types of excellence—not everyone needs to be writing academic papers or running marathons to matter. The community has helped me develop my thinking and skills rather than making me feel excluded for lacking certain knowledge. The barrier to entry feels reasonable for a movement focused on rigorous thinking about important problems. My background and current level of accomplishment don't prevent me from being seen, heard, and appreciated."