Labor and productivism: health and lifestyle of professors at public Higher Education institutions

Abstract

This paper aims at discussing the intensification of work and its implication to the lifestyle and health of professors in the public higher education. It was based on a research carried out at a Brazilian federal public university and it approaches work conditions and workday, forms of organizing and accomplishing the teaching activities, as well as feelings and ways of suffering and sickening indicated by 96 effective professors (56 men and 40 women), working in graduate programs or not. The results point out that most of them regard their job as precarious, above all in terms of material infrastructure; they believe to work under a high pressure to reach productivity goals - the latter mostly referring to publication; and they extend their workday to household. A significant part of respondents complains about their health, predominantly with regard to psycho-emotional and psychosomatic issues. Most sickening cases are unknown by the university administration.