This is one of the best works I have read belonging to the academic crisis genre: Peter Fleming, Dark Academia: How Universities Die. Comprehensive, insightful, accessible and, above all, sympathetic. Analyses in this genre often loose track of scholars’ mindset and subjectivity. Far from the case here. Fleming connects very well the macro factors (economic, ideological, political) with their micro effects on scholars and students.
Scholars are extremely self-motivated and have always been prone to overwork. Since most are driven by an intrinsic commitment to their vocation, it can be difficult to switch off after hours. I know plenty of academics for whom nothing is more relaxing than holidaying on the beach with a dense monograph. But the workaholicism afflicting universities today is different. It’s not voluntary but linked to externally imposed demands on our time.
