it's the nature of the academy in the US. the ideological project of the powell memo, the "philanthropy" sponsoring chairs, and the way boards have been stacked by committed market fundamentalists for decades has had its impact on the culture of higher education in the US.

but really, you should see how many academics in the social sciences lack class consciousness and efficiently recreate crazy hierarchical dynamics in their fiefdoms. it's not all, but it's enough and they're fucking mind boggling. like, what kind of wretched beast doesn't take the exact lens they were taught to build and use it to look at their immediate surroundings, their career ladder or the institutions they work in?

i was interdisciplinary across stem and social sciences. stem specialists have the (weak, imo) excuse of not being trained to critically analyze power or social systems, but even without the training, some totally understand something is rotten at the core. they just lack the language to articulate it and often find themselves viscerally angry at representatives of power. there's a rage in ecology, like a wound that won't heal.

with the inverted social scientists... it's hard not to assume the only lesson these people internalized is that they would comfortable and content holding the whip over the innocent than subject to its sting. and they don't have to look at or contemplate the collapsing biosphere. if they want comfort, they just have to find travel grants, generate publications, and outperform their peers.