Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The present article intends to produce a general overview of a few moments of the Brazilian history in order to point out what influences our intersubjectivity and ethic codes to have formed and maintained an unhealthy pattern. It seeks, therefore, to explain why the Brazilian political elite is almost chronically unskilled in the republican government model, that is, a model in which the public interest democratically overcomes all private interests - either financial, electoral or corporative. Since the public virtue of Brazil is not yet fully constituted neither matured, the country has had major difficulties to promote its democratic and republican development. However, Brazil is a community that recognizes the flaw, that shares a rich and expressive culture and, for good or bad, has a political and government system.

This article furthers the discussion on the training of health professionals according to the guidelines of the Psychiatric Reform by reviewing the steps taken by the country from the appearance of the first reform movements until the development of the current care model, an alternative to hospital-centered models. The article also presents the experience acquired in the Training Course on Day-Care in Mental Health, whose objective is to train health care professionals in mental health. Moreover, it also discusses possible strategies and proposals for assuring that the received training also involves practice, which would be reflected in differentiated multidisciplinary care and in a possibly larger autonomy of clients.

Helena Hirata is a sociologist and researcher of the Groupe d'Etudes sur la Division Sociale et Sexuelle du Travail at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, in France. In the last few years, she has been devoted to analyzing the social process of globalization in production systems, in the organization of labor and in labor relations. Her latest works approached relevant themes for Brazil and the country's academic work, such as the study of the increase in the vulnerability of labor relations, the divergence between productive and unproductive labor, the relations between unemployment and underemployment and the rearrangements of production and organization. These themes are dear to the sociology of labor and Helena Hirata has revisited them through the viewpoint of gender studies and on the perspective of the discussion of gender relations. In the interview, she speaks of the increasing relevance of gender matters for the sociology of labor, of power relations, of the social division of labor and of gender relations in the western world. She also comments on the influence of the workplace in the development of the identity of the woman.

His article seeks to problematize the subject-work relationship in the contemporaneous society. Firstly, it analyzes the configuration of this relationship in Western history, particularly as of the late 17th century. Secondly, it discusses the specificities of the new work processes that have been consolidating themselves nearly world-wide. Based on this examination, an analysis is built on the different sociopolitical and subjective implications this new reality in the capitalistic productive organization.

This article intends to address a few important issues for comprehending the public/private relation in education and teaching. To do so, the current law was investigated and this relation assessed. This revealed an understanding of education as a public service, which would, thus, explain the authorization required from private schools. The article also provides a comparison with similar notions in the area of health.

This article is based on an empirical research project of social nature that analyzes the meanings students of medicine attribute to the groupings formed based on their initiative in a public university and discusses the relationship between this space and the development of citizenship in a consumption society in which important movements are taking place. The empirical material was obtained from observations made in several scenarios experienced by the students and from semi-structured interviews carried out among students of medicine, the theoretical reference for which were notions of critical education and post-structuralism. The studies reveal parties, events, and celebrations, largely visible and strongly mercantilist social practices, are not hegemonic in the university space. There are also study groups, religious gatherings, debates on racial and sexual choice affirmation, community activities and scientific events, even though less visible and prestigious. In this context, academic center and sports centers, in addition to their respective purposes of political and academic engagement and of organizing sporting events, are important spaces for daily experiences and to bring students from different undergraduate periods. Based on these results, we discuss aspects of the relationship to be established between these spaces and the university curriculum, Considering values of solidarity, liberty, and social obligations.

Seeking to get to know the most significant learning approaches for nursing students at a university located in Southern Brazil, a qualitative survey was carried out among 37 students from May to June 2007. Initially, the data were collected via an instrument containing a single guiding question: "How do you best learn content?". A group of nine students was then brought together and the theme explored in more detail. The results of this study indicate these nursing students learn content best via theoretical and practical activities. This allows us to infer that learning becomes more significant to students as they realize how such learning is applied in the daily activities nurses carry out.

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