Priggishness Follows Institutional Power

The same personality that drives moral purity contests (the 'prig') will adopt whatever set of norms gives them leverage inside institutions; when that personality gains hiring and credential power (e.g., faculty jobs), the content of its priggishness shifts and becomes enforced as institutional orthodoxy. This reframes debates about ideology: the problem is not the abstract belief but who can weaponize performative enforcement through institutional levers. — If true, policy responses should focus less on censoring ideas and more on changing which actors hold gatekeeping power in universities, media, and credentialing institutions.