A recent Facebook conversation has me thinking about the shroud of pessimism that exists in academia, especially in Humanities departments. Humanities professors' self-deprecating humor is the stuff of legends. When you read a lot of dystopian literature and arcane critical theory, one tends to get pessimistic. I want to talk about pessimism in academia to educate those outside its gates and to help those in the ivory tower transition out to the brighter world outside.
A quick Google search of academic pessimism led me to defensive pessimism. So there’s a name for it! I’m not going to tell anyone to not be pessimistic and especially not to be defensively pessimistic. My reading discussed the benefits of this worldview. However, what I would say to academics interested in transitioning to industry is that defensive pessimism won’t help you get out and it won’t endear you to your new colleagues.
So what is defensive pessimism? According to positivepsychology.com, defensive pessimism is “making oneself think that a future event will go poorly, so that one takes the necessary steps to make sure it does not go poorly.” Sounds great, right? It’s always good to plan ahead, think of rebuttals to objections, be conscious of how you are presenting yourself. All this planning is done to reduce anxiety. Not a bad coping mechanism, in moderation of course.
When defensive pessimism involves self-handicapping actions, then it’s an issue.
Self-deprecating humor is a form of defensive and academic pessimism. It comes from a place of believing the future is the same if not worse than the present. Since there are so many things out of our control, laugh to keep from crying. Read enough structuralist and poststructuralist theory that says language and therefore meaning is not only subjective but ultimately meaningless and you can see why self-deprecation can be fun.
But here’s the thing. Your mileage may vary with this, but in my experience the world outside of academia doesn’t think this way. They don’t walk around with the weight of the world on their shoulders. They don’t feel powerless in the face of great odds. That’s the stuff of great literature and good storytelling.
If you’re going to get out of academia, you’ve got to tone down the self-deprecation. Defensive pessimism can work for you, but not if it overwhelms you.
I know you’re not going to want to swing to the other extreme. I’m not here to tell you to just believe in yourself. This isn’t a Disney movie. As Henry Ford said, “if you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” You gotta believe, deep down, somewhere, that it is possible to leave. This is one of many mindset shifts it will take to get out of academia. Of course, it takes a lot (and I mean a lot) of hard work, but if you don’t think it’s possible, you won’t do it.
Stay tuned for the next entry in this series where I’ll talk about some more mindset shifts as well as what life looks like on the other side.
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