I think this is a little unfair - academia is stuffed full of people seeking truth and doing good work.
However as a PhD student I decided that science academia wasn't for me - not because of out and out fraud - but because I could see success depended on marketing, networking and self-promotion - simply doing excellent quality work was required, but not sufficient.
Some of this is fair - part of an academics job is not just to discover new stuff, but to educate about it's discovery.
Anyway I decided I didn't have a loud enough trumpet and sharp enough elbows.
I'd agree that you find less politics in industry.
However as a PhD student I decided that science academia wasn't for me - not because of out and out fraud - but because I could see success depended on marketing, networking and self-promotion - simply doing excellent quality work was required, but not sufficient.
Some of this is fair - part of an academics job is not just to discover new stuff, but to educate about it's discovery.
Anyway I decided I didn't have a loud enough trumpet and sharp enough elbows.
I'd agree that you find less politics in industry.