My own experience of how academic culture turned toward expectation of overworking: when I started out as a research assistant, flexibility/responsiveness was key - sometimes you might work all evening and give up your weekend, but then the next week you’d take it easier. /1

This changed at some point, when flexibility became to be seen as slacking, and you should be doing (ideally be seen to be doing) daily office hours. But the other bit didn’t change - you were still expected to be willing to give up your evenings and weekend as well. /2

Then it changed again, in that if you wanted to not even get promoted but just to stay employed, the full ‘office hours’ week plus all the extra was the expected standard, so if you want to ‘stand out’ you need to do more, and if you don’t you’re taking it easy. /3

Universities have written this down for us, ahead of the strike, in that they say they can deduct pay if we work to contract. Plus this increase in expected work has not been matched in any way by increase in pay, contract length or job availability - quite the opposite. /end