This is exactly Turchin’s point: by the inherent nature of hierarchies, few people on the bottom are qualified for a spot at the top, but many fields (especially academia) have no way of effectively absorbing those who don’t make the cut, leading to disenchantment.
This is particularly bad in academia because a lot of professors intentionally take on more PhD students than can possibly fill future roles for which a PhD is necessary, in order to use them as cheap labor. This is especially true in the biological sciences: rather than hiring career staff scientists to run experiments, professors simply use their much cheaper grad student labor pool.
This is particularly bad in academia because a lot of professors intentionally take on more PhD students than can possibly fill future roles for which a PhD is necessary, in order to use them as cheap labor. This is especially true in the biological sciences: rather than hiring career staff scientists to run experiments, professors simply use their much cheaper grad student labor pool.