&gt; Erm... isn&#x27;t the actual root cause of the problem raised in TFA the opposite of debasement? Namely excess supply of people who&#x27;re willing to go into academia to &quot;do the most essential work in society&quot;, whatever the terms, as a sister comment from an insider pointed out? If the perceived value of being in academia was low enough, the market would force the universities to treat adjuncts better.<p>this eerily sounds similar to the kind of logic i was rejecting. this is an appeal to the logic of markets and the assumption that they are efficient to derive truth. this is exactly neoliberalism. at least in old school liberalism we could acknowledge markets&#x27; shortcomings via externalities and the idea of market failure! Otherwise i think the sibling comment is a good response.