It is entirely their fault. If no one agrees to do performative research, the problem will be solved.

The problem is some people prefer an academic lifestyle in exchange for doing performative research.

Yes there are other actors eg politicians demanding performative productivity, but mostly it’s the inmates running the asylum.

Academia is one failed western institution amongst many, and those failures are ultimately directed by the actions of the individuals that comprise those institutions.

> It is entirely their fault. If no one agrees to do performative research, the problem will be solved.

Right, and the prisoner's "dilemma" isn't a real thing; everyone knows it's their own fault for not just all picking the decision that gives them all the best outcome. Every individual within a network effect is obviously responsible for the outcomes the entire system produces.

It's not necessarily performative research just because a pop science author wrote a catchy, exaggerated headline about it

This is a fallacy: "If no one agrees to do performative research, the problem will be solved."

It is like saying, if everyone stops subscribing to OnlyFans or liking spicy pics on Instagram, it will go away.

There will always be sycophants willing to do "performative research" or ... other things.

So long as funding is granted to do performative research, it will continue to exist.