Trabalho, Educação e Saúde - TES (Work, Education and Health) is an open access scientific journal, edited by the Joaquim Venâncio Polytechnic School of Health, from Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.
The study that gave rise to this article was a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive one aimed at analyzing how nursing graduates experience competitiveness. Data collection took place between March and May 2015. The subjects were twenty undergraduate nursing students from two colleges in Maceió, state of Alagoas, Brazil. A semi-structured interview was used to collect the information and undertake the thematic analysis. The theoretical framework used to analyze the data came from Caniato and Rodrigues’ views on competition, which has its theoretical and philosophical base Freudian psychoanalysis and the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, especially that of Adorno and Horkheimer. It was noted that competitiveness is part of the students’ experience because it is considered an inherent characteristic of the human being, who, naturally, lives with it in the capitalist system. This competitive behavior might increase in undergraduate studies, according to the environment, to one’s personality/nature, and to the situations experienced. It was noted there is conflict, since the students considered competitiveness as a necessity in view of the labor ‘market,’ but saw it as a more negative characteristic.
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