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Although I agree with your general point (to be a successful Ivy League academic you have to be quite an outlier, therefore there is pressure to cheat), it isn'

Although I agree with your general point (to be a successful Ivy League academic you have to be quite an outlier, therefore there is pressure to cheat), it isn't specifically true that you need to be "strong" on willingness to cheat and shameless self-promotion. There may be disciplines where this is more true, but it is definitely not required in the humanities, for example (perhaps because research is not empirical, so "cheating" isn't a hack that gets you ahead). I actually know some successful academics who are very humble, and have zero willingness to cheat. The reason they have been successful is because they are extremely talented, well-liked, and also somewhat lucky.

blagie 3y ago
What generation? Academia was very honest for most of history. From WWII through roughly 1980-2000, there was almost exponential growth in the number of academic jobs available. At the time of WWII, about 5% of people had college degrees. Today, about 2/3 of people enter college. That near-exponential growth meant there while each professor had a few grad students, and there were enough faculty openings for the students who were both talented and wanted to go into the academy since new schools were opening up. The extreme competition came in when this growth stopped -- college enrolment can't go above 100% of the population. For every professor, there are still many graduate students, but a position at a research institution only opens up when that professor retires. The whole dynamic changed. Culture doesn't change overnight either, so things remained pretty honest for a few years. The present level of wholesale academic fraud is a relatively new phenomenon.
- gnicholas 3y ago
  > What generation? Professors in their early 40s. The job market is indeed very tight, so I can see why there would be pressure to hit every conceivable metric. But some people are unfailingly honest, and some disciplines don't lend themselves to fudging.

blagie 3y ago

What generation? Academia was very honest for most of history. From WWII through roughly 1980-2000, there was almost exponential growth in the number of academic jobs available. At the time of WWII, about 5% of people had college degrees. Today, about 2/3 of people enter college. That near-exponential growth meant there while each professor had a few grad students, and there were enough faculty openings for the students who were both talented and wanted to go into the academy since new schools were opening up. The extreme competition came in when this growth stopped -- college enrolment can't go above 100% of the population. For every professor, there are still many graduate students, but a position at a research institution only opens up when that professor retires. The whole dynamic changed. Culture doesn't change overnight either, so things remained pretty honest for a few years. The present level of wholesale academic fraud is a relatively new phenomenon.

gnicholas 3y ago
> What generation? Professors in their early 40s. The job market is indeed very tight, so I can see why there would be pressure to hit every conceivable metric. But some people are unfailingly honest, and some disciplines don't lend themselves to fudging.