Academia is extremely competitive (in terms of applicants per post), which probably explains most of it. Show business, or generally arts and performance, which

Academia is extremely competitive (in terms of applicants per post), which probably explains most of it. Show business, or generally arts and performance, which are similar (not great working conditions but huge supply of labour relative to demand) seem similarly pathological. What keeps “normal” jobs in check is that people can leave and join elsewhere, but that’s not really the case with academia - jobs are scarce. Also, in any workplace, ruthless or narcissistic people are better at navigating career progression - and in academia they are harder to fire once they become senior. I think once you correct for these factors, it’s not qualitatively different from other “industries”.