The Neutrality Illusion: Structural Instability, Incentive‑Bound Knowledge, and the Temporal Rupture in Institutional Research

Title: The Neutrality Illusion: Structural Instability, Incentive‑Bound Knowledge, and the Temporal Rupture in Institutional Research Description:This work examines the institutional claim of neutrality through a structural lens, arguing that neutrality is not an inherent property of research but an asymptotic ideal destabilized by infrastructures, incentives, and temporal drift. Drawing on established traditions in Science and Technology Studies, critical data studies, sociology of knowledge, platform governance, and public administration, the essay synthesizes cross‑domain evidence showing that neutrality becomes fragile when systems evolve faster than institutional methods can adapt. A central contribution of this work is the identification of a temporal rupture in institutional research output: a period of meaningful structural discovery, followed by stagnation driven by incentive realignment and infrastructural acceleration, and culminating in a narrative pivot that frames AI as the primary explanatory threat. This pattern is interpreted not as disciplinary failure but as a structural response to rising complexity and institutional risk. The essay introduces an operational framework for “structural truth,” offering markers such as cross‑domain convergence, incentive‑traceability, infrastructure‑dependence, and drift sensitivity. These markers provide a falsifiable and analytically rigorous alternative to narrative neutrality. The work contributes to ongoing debates about institutional epistemology, research incentives, and the shifting landscape of knowledge production in the post‑web era.