(Des)qualificação da educação : a produção de verdades sobre o ensino superior a partir das mídias e redes sociais digitais.

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how political and media narratives have produced “truths” that delegitimize higher education in Brazil, particularly within the neoliberal context. Its central question is: how are these narratives constituted and how do they operate in producing truth-effects that undermine higher education? To address the overall objective—problematizing the ways in which the expressions of subjects, conveyed through media and social networks, participate in the production and circulation of truth regimes that delegitimize higher education in Brazil—the following specific objectives were pursued: To contextualize historically the constitution of Brazilian higher education, highlighting the relationship between educational policies and competing societal projects; To map and analyze the main narratives of delegitimization of higher education in traditional media and digital platforms, examining the arguments and strategies through which they circulate; To understand the discursive disputes among the actors involved, analyzing how these contribute to the production of truths that undermine higher education; To identify and problematize the meanings attributed to higher education in discourses aligned with neoliberal rationality and digital entrepreneurship; To analyze how political polarization is manifested in narratives that disqualify higher education, reinforcing its depiction as a space of conflict and ideological indoctrination; To investigate how student mental health issues are addressed in these delegitimizing discourses, linking such conditions to the precarization of institutions and the devaluation of higher education. The study is grounded epistemologically in Foucault’s conceptual tools of regimes of truth, which enabled the examination of relations of power and subjectivity. In parallel, the notion of entrepreneurship of the self was incorporated, articulated with a netnographic approach that facilitated the investigation of practices and discourses in media and digital platforms. The analysis identified three main narrative axes of higher education delegitimization: Political polarization between right and left, with emphasis on the “cultural war” and the dispute over youth; Digital entrepreneurship as a market-driven strategy offering individualized paths to success, while devaluing university education; Silenced violence, expressed in the precarization, exhaustion, and mental illness of students. The research concludes that the delegitimization of higher education in Brazil is a complex discursive process, shaped by relations of power, regimes of truth, and political-economic disputes, producing meanings that associate higher education with inefficiency, ideological indoctrination, and mental illness. Ultimately, this dissertation seeks to contribute to debates on the academic and social purposes of higher education. It also suggests directions for future studies, including explorations of resistance strategies, counter-narratives produced in power relations between students and teachers across diverse educational contexts, and the impacts of discursive disputes on public policies concerning higher education.