I would argue that this is fundamentally fine, because "management" is itself a unique job with unique responsibilities... except for one problem. Managers are

I would argue that this is fundamentally fine, because "management" is itself a unique job with unique responsibilities... except for one problem. Managers are (almost) always paid significantly more than individual contributors, in every industry, and are given power over the employment prospects of those ICs. There is no inherent reason for this. Product owners and agile delivery leads (scrum masters) are both types of managers, but they don't have that power and they're not paid disproportionately to ICs. This relationship works really well! Why can't all management work this way?