Generational change in the Argentine academic profession through the analysis of ‘life courses’

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the effects of the socio-political processes on the academic profession in Argentina from the life course perspective. The analysis of differences in the individuals’ life course was made by dividing them into three groups, representing different generations of academics: the novel, the intermediate, and the consolidated. It is possible to link the way in which those groups have delineated their careers to key historical periods of the country. The assumption of the authors is that each generational group has delineated its academic life course under the performativity of university policies during different socio-political moments, building networks of relationships and life paths through elections, in the context of opportunities and obligations imposed by history and social circumstances. This article draws on research data from two projects: The Changing Academic Profession Project (henceforth CAP), based on a structured questionnaire answered by a probabilistic sampling of Argentine university professors in activity, and a qualitative study based on 80 in-depth interviews to academics on key topics that emerged from CAP study.