Eurowhiteness in Science: Privilege Escalation and Intentional Sludge

Abstract

This article connects Böröcz's (2021) Eurowhiteness concept with a critical dissection of Western European academia's stance on ‘outsiders’, including Eastern Europeans and non‐Europeans. It explains how an exclusivist Western science is created, where, behind the seemingly open and diverse environment, we find monolithic privileges helping participants inside and blocking participation from the outside. The article claims that in the present Western European academic setting, there are two tendencies that seriously harm diversity and the free flow of ideas. First, Western scholarly communities boost their potential through structural advantage. In this environment, scientific excellence becomes a form of privilege. However, it does not necessarily mean proper excellence, but more an exclusionary system of greater financial assets, personal connections, and shared knowhow among the participants, as well as access to gatekeepers. Second, the article uses Cass R. Sunstein's theory on sludge in public management to explain how the European Union boosts this phenomenon with its inequitable ways of allocating research funding: this is how privilege escalation is created through a pseudo‐meritocratic system. Finally, the article explains how Eastern European scholars adhered to these requirements with a self‐colonizing attitude, which limits their long‐term capability to carry out original science.