I am in higher level education in the public university system. I used to view academia as a source of hope in society, and perhaps a progressive institution in someways, or some kind of source of hope with their supposed focus on science and research. After some years here, this “image” I had of academia has been shattered.
What are your perceptions of academia and research institutions, as Marxists?
While studying (sociology and politics) my lecturer told me a time they where commisioned to do an investigation into heroin users in Glasgow and come back with reccomondations for policy.
They go and interview 100’s of people, conduct experiments, come back and tell them
‘we should legalize drugs and setup safe consumption rooms in order to reduce harm as much as possible’ (Glasgow has some of the highest rates of drug deaths in the world for context)
They tell her ‘we dont like your results, we wont be pursuing any of your reccomondations unless you can make it say that we need to criminalize them’
Anyway, academia is mostly just a way for a company to advertise itself now a days. It works by only things that make profit and make company/politician look good will be funded; Academia is mostly compromised in the upper echeleons of it, with many well do-ers and intulectual energy being wasted.