Effects of Anti-Intellectualism in Science from the Perspective of Doctors in Training

Abstract

During the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, there was a resurgence of practices that are corrosive to the scientific ethos, such as budget cuts and denialist and anti-scientific discourses. The objective of this study was to characterize the effects of this scenario on academic training from the perspective of PhD students. Through interviews conducted with 10 doctoral students enrolled in university excellence programs in the country, the following were identified: reduced access to training activities; financial insecurity; impairment academic performance; loss of social prestige of the academic career; emigration; and withdrawal from the academic career. These effects are part of an anti-intellectualist culture that needs to be combated during the recovery of the social value of science.