Instability of terms of employment of scientific and pedagogical personnel as a factor of formation of the academic precariat

The article discusses the factors of changing the employment conditions of scientific and pedagogical workers in the conditions of transformation of Russian scientific research organiza­tions. The precarization of scientific and pedagogical personnel is not specific to the Russian Fed­eration; it is inscribed in the global trend. However, there are also prerequisites associated with the transformation of post-Soviet science and education. The factors for this kind of precarization are fixed-term contracts, regular professional extension is required to continue professional activities, and the contract term itself is an indication of the status of the employee; insufficient pay, its insta­bility and dependence on an effective contract and other external factors; multiple jobs; terms of an effective contract; increase in extracurricular workload of teachers, including administrative; grant system for financing research; increase in extracurricular and "home" workload of academic staff. The signs of labor instability of scientific and pedagogical personnel are revealed and analyzed, such as an increase in part-time work, an increase in the share of labor compensation, which depends on the fulfillment of the terms of an effective contract; decline in prestige of the academic profession; increased fears of job loss, reduction in the number of scientific and pedagogical personnel in univer­sities and research organizations. The combined effect of various manifestations of instability not only transforms the academic profession itself, but also reduces the staffing potential of researchers and teachers, and is the reason for the outflow of specialists to other areas. The empirical basis of this study is also the analysis of secondary data and the data of our own qualitative research, a series of in-depth interviews of researchers on the problem of the deformation of the professional activity of scientific and pedagogical personnel, they also indicate the unproductive impact of the new conditions of the academic contract on the content of the activity.