Under pressure: os afetos e as emoções nas práticas dos estudantes da Pós-graduação em Administração

Abstract

An intense and mediated debate about the mental health of graduate students has been taking place from a scientific perspective, pointing to a possible mental health crisis in this space. Most of the studies in evidence deal with aspects of the graduate environment from the perspective of the number of diagnoses and prevalence of disorders such as anxiety and depression among groups of students, demonstrating a gap in the social aspects of this educational background. In studies in the Administration area, and even in academia, affects and emotions in practices of graduate students are rarely discussed openly, mainly because notions of objectivity and rationality override the importance of emotional aspects as part of the educational experience in graduate studies. The main object of this thesis was to understand how affects and emotions are built in the practices of graduate studies in Administration. For this, online oral history interviews were carried out with 32 master’s and doctoral students in Administration from the Northeast, Southeast, South, and Midwest regions of Brazil from november to december 2020. The material produced was interpreted through the narrative analysis. The practices identified in the narratives comprised the selection process; the course of subjects; the scientific publication process; the commitment made to the programs, coordination, teachers, and academic advisors; and the research process and thesis and dissertations examination board. The affective relationships in these practices take place between students and teachers, academic advisors; productivity; performance requirements; academic demands; and family ties. The social and emotional effects relate were the shared feelings of incapacity, inferiority, insufficiency, anxiety attacks, and depression, physics reactions, the inequalities, discrimination, and prejudices faced from these relationships, as well as the pride of being part of the graduate program, happiness, feeling of growth, learning and maturation both personally and professionally. The affective relationships reported in the practices narrated by the students were part of the initial adaptations to graduate practices, the pressures, expectations, and competitiveness of this environment, regional prejudices and other inequalities, sexism, racism, motherhood, personal and financial issues, the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the enjoyment, happiness, and opportunities for students ‘personal and professional development. This thesis explains that emotions do not happen in isolation subjects but are built through affective relationships established in graduate practices. This means that the affections built in the relationships arising from academic practices contribute to emotional and social consequences experienced in graduate studies.