Fine, at full capacity, working. Practices and Temporal Experiences of Young Researchers in Argentina

Abstract

The article presents the initial results of research on how young Conicet (National Scientific and Technical Research Council - Argentina) researchers use and experience time in their daily practices. The starting assumption is that the insertion of competitive evaluation and accreditation logics has the effect of increasing the levels of productivity necessary to reach and sustain their jobs, which in temporal terms translates into a rationalization of the time/results equation and in different forms of time pressure, in an objective and subjective sense. Since the phenomenon has not been previously studied in Argentina, this research is exploratory in nature and has been limited to young people who are in the early stages of their career, assuming they are potentially most exposed to this dynamic. The main result is that these young people have to face and resolve four major time-related tensions: the clash between work and other aspects of life; the tension between the long-term demands of the degree and those of the daily or short-term agenda; the strain that arises from the requirements of different aspects of the job; the burden caused by the opposition between the interest in doing well and the need to do something quickly. After presenting its theoretical and methodological approach, the article exposes the different ways in which these tensions are experienced and managed.