Page 173 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

9781412934633-Chap-10 1/10/09 8:45 AM Page 144

144 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

within a network of accountability and demands of audiences, patients, clients and
governs professional conduct at a distance’ students become paramount. Professionals
(1999: 280). are expected and expect themselves to be
At the level of individual actors, the appeal committed to, even to be morally involved in,
to professionalism can be seen as a powerful the work.
motivating force of control ‘at a distance’ In sum, it seems that in Anglo-American
(Burchell et al., 1991; Miller and Rose, interpretations of profession, professionalism
1990). This professionalization will be and professionalization, the early analyses
achieved through increased occupational based on occupational value emphasized
training and the certification of the workers/ cooperation, collegial support and manage-
employees – a process labelled as credential- rial and client trust. Later interpretations
ism by Collins (1979, 1981). In these cases based on market closure resulted in a theoret-
the appeal to professionalism is a powerful ical and conceptual emphasis on occupa-
mechanism for promoting occupational tional conflict, competition and domination.
change and social control. The appeal to the In some recent interpretations, processes of
discourse by managers in work organizations occupational (self) control and social order
is to a myth or an ideology of professional- are receiving increased attention, thereby
ism which includes aspects such as exclusive enabling other organizational occupations
ownership of an area of expertise, autonomy (including journalists, social workers and the
and discretion in work practices and the military) as well as artists and musicians to
occupational control of the work. The reality be considered as occupations controlled by
of the professionalism that is envisaged is the discourse of professionalism.
very different. The appeal to the discourse of
professionalism by managers most often
includes the substitution of organizational for
professional values; bureaucratic, hierarchi- FRENCH INTERPRETATIONS: A LONG
cal and managerial controls rather than colle- HISTORY AND A LATE DEVELOPMENT
gial relations; managerial and organizational
objectives rather than client trust based on In French sociology, as elsewhere in conti-
competencies; budgetary restrictions and nental Europe, professions are defined more
financial rationalizations; the standardization broadly and the research focus is on ques-
of work practices rather than discretion; and tions of occupation more generally, including
performance targets, accountability and occupational identity, career trajectories,
sometimes increased political controls. training and expertise, and employment in
The use of the discourse of professional- public sector organizations. It is also the case
ism is not confined to managers in work that the continental ideal-type emphasizes
organizations, however. As a discourse of ‘elite administrators possessing their offices
self-control it can also be interpreted as an by virtue of academic credentials’ (Collins,
ideology which enables self-control and some- 1990: 15) and the political struggles for con-
times even self-exploitation. Born (1995) trol within an elite bureaucratic hierarchy
illustrates this very well in her account of the (1990: 17). The sociology of professional
world of French contemporary music prac- groups in France has also utilized conflict,
tice. It is also clearly expressed in the work competition and cooperation in interpreta-
culture of artists, actors and musicians in tions, though the historical development has
general. One is self-defined as a professional, been different in this country.
imposing time or other limits on one’s efforts The sociology of professional groups has
is rendered illegitimate. The expectations by old roots in French sociology. At the begin-
self and others from the professional have no ning of the twentieth century, Durkheim
limits. For the professional, the needs and (1992) called for the revival of professional