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.

"Performative research" sounds far more NSFW than it has any right to in the context you've placed it.

Why would I want to stop liking spicy pictures though :P

If everyone stops subscribing to OnlyFans, why will OnlyFans exist?

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

But it’s granted by the same people that perform performative research.

Academia is beyond broken.

The bad drove out the good.

> 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.

Everyone is responsible for their own actions, yes.

They're not responsible for the situations that end up encouraging certain actions though, and they shouldn't be blamed for not being able to solve the collective action problem[1]. I'd argue that the only blame that's fair to place on them in situations like this is from direct results of their individual actions, not the propagation of incentives that are beyond their power to change regardless of their own individual decisions.

If you're willing to blame someone for not acting against their own individual interest, doesn't it make more sense for it to be the people who are going out of their way to reward others for acting in that way?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_action_problem

Na, not buying it.

Evolution creates a situation that encourages all sorts of terrible actions, and the vast majority of people choose to control their animal instincts.

Additionally: the people who encourage the performative research are the people who control grant review. And those people are the same people as the performative researchers.

A bunch of people figured they could make a career doing bs performative research and corrupted the whole system to serve them.