Silencing Mechanisms in Academia: Towards Collaborative Innovation to Support Critical Social Science

Critical social science (CSS) is a framework of social science that questions uneven relations of power to achieve transformative change towards equitable social outcomes. Scholars who pursue CSS are often politically and socially engaged to promote social progress, which puts them in direct conflict with hierarchies and hegemonic structures of power. As a result, CSS and scholars in this tradition have been the target of backlash that seeks to silence CSS in academia. We explain three dominant silencing mechanisms in academia that frame the backlash and attacks against CSS. Theorising collaborative innovation, we offer multilevel and inclusive design and solidarity as possible venues for resistance against the ongoing purge of CSS, which undermines autonomy, freedom of speech, and equality in academia.