From "Homo Academicus" to “Academic-Manager”: Professional and Identity Reconstructions of the Academic Professional

Academic professionals form a professional group with specialized knowledge, which has a monopoly on the production of scientific knowledge and operates in a field that Bourdieu would characterize as an “academic field”, with high prestige and recognition. In this field, the value of academics is currently defined by various factors, including teaching ability, scientific production, academic management and the transfer of knowledge to society and the business community.

Associated with the concept of academic profession is the concept of academic professional identity. This was built around the idea of intellectual autonomy, once a central characteristic of the profession, which manifested itself in the freedom to research and the possibility of exploring new scientific knowledge. However, this autonomy has been challenged by transformations in higher education institutions (HEIs), such as the new forms of governance and management of HEIs that resemble the business world, the consequent dependence on external funding, the expansion and intensification of academic work and contractual precariousness.

We propose to present the results of semi-structured interviews of a biographical nature to be carried out with career teachers and contract teachers from a university and a polytechnic institute, as part of a doctoral research project in Sociology. We will present the participants' perceptions of their professional trajectory in higher education (HE), the opportunities and difficulties they have experienced, as well as how they have shaped their professional identity. We will try to understand how the interviewees perceive the academic profession in the current context, marked by profound transformations. Attention will also be paid to the perceived changes in terms of recognition, both institutionally and socially, and how the interviewees see the future of the academic profession.