Guidance counselors on Instagram: academic crisis and the uberization of researchers’ praxis

Abstract

It has been observed, In the midst of the increasing use of the Internet in various spheres of life, the existence of academic research guidance services on social networks. By reflecting on the possible contradictions and effects that this practice can bring to Brazilian science, this study aimed to analyze the profiles of researchers who offer academic guidance on the social network Instagram. The research has an exploratory character, with a qualitative approach, performing the content analysis of the messages present in the bio of the profiles of the referred social network and supported by the Marxist social theory. There was a greater presence of female researchers, linked to the areas of humanities and social sciences, unemployed, with temporary employment relationships or, exclusively, entrepreneurs. The bio messages of the profiles point to three content cores: guidance/help in carrying out the research; uncomplication/facilitation/acceleration of the research and execution of the research or its stages. This study suggests that the phenomenon is intertwined with the academic crisis experienced today in Brazil, which, in turn, is organically associated with the expressions of the structural crisis of capital, such as the growing process of uberization of work, also reaching the praxis of researchers.