Academic work, sociology and pandemic: reconfiguration of the teaching job of sociologists at the National University of San Juan during the context of COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent social confinement measures imposed by the National Executive Branch in Argentina, deeply affected all spheres of society. In the field of university higher education, in particular, teaching and learning processes were completely altered. In this context, academic activities had to be re-planned and adapted to an exclusively virtual format that disrupted the usual labor dynamic of teaching workers. Although, during this complex interregnum, this professional group went through social conditions and working constraints that were common to other sectors within the field of culture in the country, it was also marked by socio-occupational, sectorial and regional specificities that gave it a distinctive character. For this reason, in this article we focus the lens of analysis on the case of sociology teachers at the National University of San Juan, examining the evolution of their labor trajectories in two clearly differentiated moments: pre-pandemic and pandemic. This research is part of the PISAC-COVID-19-00014 project “Structural heterogeneity and persistent inequalities in Argentina 2020-2021” accredited by the R&D Agency and CODESOC. Based on a semi-structured interview to the teaching staff studied, the sociodemographic and academic profiles of the respondents are analyzed, as well as some fundamental characteristics of their productive and reproductive work. The findings show that the contingency generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly transformed the working conditions of the sociology teaching profession, crystallized in an increase in working hours, overlapping of home and work scenarios, difficulties in the accessing/using of technological tools and reconfiguration of reproductive work.