This dynamic exists in pretty much every situation where you can't switch or move somewhere else without losing your progress or suffering other significant pen

This dynamic exists in pretty much every situation where you can't switch or move somewhere else without losing your progress or suffering other significant penalties. If you're doing your PhD, you can't really switch to another supervisor in most cases without almost starting over. Additionally in small fields it could really hurt to make an influential enemy. This can happen in regular jobs if you are desperate to keep it, e.g. you have no real financial buffer and not many alternative jobs in the area. But in many cases it's a lot easier to just switch to somewhere else, which reduces these kinds of power imbalances.