O ENEM como um dispositivo da governamentalidade neoliberal no Brasil.

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze how the National High School Exam (Enem) is configured as a neoliberal governmentality apparatus operating within the context of Brazilian education. It was developed in the "Education, Culture, and Production of Subjects" research line, within the "Education" concentration area of the Graduate Program in Education at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul – UNISC. Governmentality is employed in this thesis as a key concept articulated with other concepts derived from the analyses proposed by Michel Foucault and his commentators. I aim to engage in a thought exercise by examining contemporary forms of conducting and producing ways of life under the umbrella of neoliberalism, which at times exhibits more democratic and dynamic characteristics and at other times more conservative ones. For this purpose, I chose Enem as the object of study. The analytical corpus consists of official documents that gave legitimacy to the Exam and content available in the newspaper Folha de São Paulo. From the proposed analyses, it was possible to conclude that Enem is a neoliberal governmentality apparatus that operates in different contexts, mainly educational, and exerts a governing power oriented by neoliberal rationality. This rationality, by prioritizing the market, extends its logic throughout society, causing individuals to present themselves as entrepreneurs who need to enhance their human capital throughout their lives. In a context where performance needs to be measured, the Enem apparatus comes into play by capturing these individuals and the school space, evaluating, classifying, and ranking them. Since its establishment in 1998, the Exam has undergone changes to respond to the historical urgency of each moment, a characteristic inherent to apparatus. In 2009, it was remodeled and incorporated new technologies, acquiring a more wide-ranging character concerning the assessment it performs and its role, as most universities adopt it as a requirement for admission. Additionally, it is designed as the apparatus that selects individuals eligible for government programs such as Fies and Prouni. In schools, it emerges as a curricular beacon. Intersected by power relations, it guides the school curriculum, leading institutions to develop skills and competencies that project a more autonomous, flexible, responsible, and entrepreneurial student in a corporate and competitive world demanded by neoliberal rationality. At the same time, it transforms to request from the school what it needs to develop. The data show that since its first edition, the Exam has highlighted inequalities among students from public and private schools, black and white students, rich and poor students. These inequalities, however, far from decreasing, are reinforced by the classification of schools in the so-called "Enem Ranking," which further distances those who can seek better education in an attempt to ascend socially and economically from those who are destinated to live with failure and guilt for not having invested in themselves.