Conversation

@flowless I have an inkling that “nerdy” narcissists are more noticeable in academia because they like power games, enjoy listening to themselves speak and putting others down and so on, but there’s no structure to keep people accountable in academia. It’s unlikely that there’s a higher proportion of malicious narcissists and sociopaths in academia in comparison to other sectors, the only realistic explanation to me seems to be the difference in governance and levels of freedom people have in academia compared to so-called industry jobs. Perhaps there is no external pressure that incentivizes good treatment toward fellow colleagues and students, whereas having to be accountable to clients of your service(s) on the market incentivizes taking your workers into account, as there is no product without their labor, whereas academia operates on the principle of expandability.