Making science in state public universities: towards an understanding of scientific inequality in Mexico

Hacia una comprensión de la desigualdad científica en México

Abstract

The objective of the article is to know and understand how scientific research is done in Mexican public universities. To make the unequal conditions in which Mexican scientists from Mexican universities work visible, a theoretical framework that draws on Norbert Elias's theory of figurations and Bourdieu's theory of the scientific field was required. We show how the differences in scientific status tend to diminish in Mexican universities by analyzing interviews with researchers from two state public universities facing financial crisis problems and distinguishing the analysis between those who enroll in the field of physical-chemical sciences and those who enroll in the field of social sciences. This decrease is due to the precarious conditions in which scientists from peripheral universities work and not because of an equalization of status between the scientific fields.