Ideologia em ação: representações sociais de cotas universitárias na imprensa e para professores universitários

Abstract

The present thesis had as general objective to investigate the social representations of university quotas, from the societal approach, understanding the role of ideology in the formation of this commonsense knowledge. For this, two independent and complementary studies were carried out. Study 1, called “Social Representations of University Quotas in the Brazilian Press: In Focus Veja and Carta Capital Magazines”, aimed to analyze the role of the press in the constitution and dissemination of these social representations. In this study, texts by columnistis, letters from readers, interviews and reports that addressed the issue of quotas published in magazines were analyzed. For this study, 10 years of publications was assumed as a delimitation, covering texts from 2008 to 2017. Data collection was carried out from online collections and the following keywords were used to search for the material: quota and quotas. The research returned 96 texts published by Carta Capital and 103 by Veja, which were analyzed based on classical statistics, similarity, specificities, and Descending Hierarchical Classification, using the IRAMUTEQ software. There was disagreement between the social representations of the two vehicles: while Carta Capital reinforced the character of struggle, engagement, search for social equality, taking a stance in favor of the quota policy; Veja reinforced aspects of injustice, breaking with meritocracy and the political-partisan bias of the quotas, associating it with the Workers' Party and highlighting the role of the Supreme Court in validating the measure. The results made it possible to identify that each journal's position in relation to quotas was linked to the ideological bias assumed by them: (1) Carta Capital supported its arguments based on the idea of seeking equality, on the need to change the structure social and in giving greater power to minority groups - propositions that are aligned with the left ideology; and (2) and Veja magazine, in addition to corroborating racist notions shared in Brazilian society, was based on the meritocratic ideal, on the myth of racial democracy and with a more conservative perspective, of maintaining current hegemonies and social structures - concepts propagated by right-wing ideology. Study 2, called "Social Representations of University Quotas for Professors at the Federal University of Espírito Santo", aimed, in turn, to investigate the role of party ideology in taking a stand against the social representations of university quotas, having as public analysis professors at the Federal University of Espírito Santo. The research was carried out in two stages, integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches. The first, developed from the application of a questionnaire, had 183 professors from 15 different departments. The data allowed us to characterize the profile of the participants, as well as to identify possible associations between their ideological-partisan characteristics and the position taken in relation to the quotas at undergraduate and graduate levels. Among the results, significant differences stand out, identified through the chi-square test, in the association of the variable 'positioning on quotas' with political party ideologies and 'area of action'. Regarding the first case ('positioning on quotas' vs. 'party ideology'), it was found that left-wing professors were more unanimous in being in favor of quotas; as well as the opposites, more often, they followed a “party ideology” of the right. Regarding the second analysis ('positioning on quotas' vs. 'area of action'), it was identified that the participants in favor, more frequently, were from the Human Sciences and Applied Social Sciences areas; and the opposites, in general, were from Engineering and Health Sciences and Exact Social Sciences and Earth. In the second stage of Study 2, interviews were conducted with nine professors, organized into two groups: (1) professors in favor and (2) professors against university quotas. The favorable group presented an ideological left-wing bias, evaluated affirmative action to promote social equality and recognized the criteria of low income, public schooling, and race as fundamental for understanding the quotas. Professors against the quota policy, in turn, positioned themselves as liberal in economic terms and conservative in “customs”, were based on the meritocratic ideal, and expressed the view of quotas as a palliative, political and populist action. These participants also expressed the role of group conflict that involves action, understanding quota students and non-quota students as students with very different university experience. In conclusion, through the developed thesis, it was possible to demonstrate the role of political-party ideology in the constitution of social representations of quotas, either for society in general (according to the dynamics analyzed in press vehicles) or for university professors, participants of the study. From the integrated discussion of the results, it was possible to problematize the effects of this dynamic, highlighting the importance of public debate and confronting conflicting narratives about affirmative actions in Brazil to promote processes of social change.