"Youth and Student Movement: the Precarious Work of the Ufist Scholars Students"
Name: MAÍRA POLETO CARNEIRO
Publication date: 08/12/2011
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| PRISCILLA DE OLIVEIRA MARTINS DA SILVA | Internal Alternate * |
Summary: Capitalism crisis and its consequences have caused profound changes in the workplace. The neoliberal period in Brazil, marked by rising structural unemployment and sub recruitments generated impacts on social policies, especially in education policy and workers´ organization. The category analyzed was understood as a legitimate example of the flexibilization process of work imposed by the structural crisis of capital. The object of this research is pluralistic and had an interdisciplinary approach running through the fields of education, labor and student movements. Broadly, the research set out to study the paths of youth, regarding work, study, political participation and representation within the public university. More specifically, the research has deepened in the case of UFES´ scholars, who received support from the student movement and led the strike demonstrations in 2010. The objective of this study was to investigate and understand how the working conditions of UFES´ scholars are. The method used was case study and the survey instrument chosen was semi-structured interviews. The research subjects were university scholar students. Student directors, a union leader and a technical administrative server were also interviewed. The analysis of the testimonies collected was made by content analysis. It was observed that scholar students, due to a difficult financial situation and lack of experience become vulnerable to the precarious work processes because they are willing to undergo any kind of work that allows the preservation of their student status. These young people experience situations that involve bullying and sexual harassment, physical and emotional stress, work overload (responsibilities reassignment, accumulation of tasks), lack of recognition, low pay, lack of support, instability, psychological control and exposure to unhealthy agents. They feel aggrieved by the lack of support in case of accident or illness and the absence of the right to have a vacation. Moreover, these subjects do not recognize themselves as the product of their work. Besides these aspects, concerning the political participation of students, it was understood that we currently experience a change in the university profile and a reflow of the critical perspective of the agents that compose it. The role of the student movement focuses on the attempt to direct the university to the criticism of the structural foundations of society and on social change. At the end of the survey, this paper is expected to constitute a trigger for further research to emerge with a critical approach, grounded in practice, since it is believed that politics is built in a day to day basis, through a dialectic combination of theory and practice.
