Professionalism and Social Change: Processes of Differentiation Within, Between and Beyond Professions

✍ Scribed by Lara Maestripieri (editor), Andrea Bellini (editor)

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 335
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book guides the reader in discovering contemporary professions and the critical changes they have lived through after the post-industrial transformation of advanced capitalist societies. Two interrelated concepts are used to interpret what is happening in professional work: differentiation, namely the set of processes by which professions and professionalism have become more diverse, and heterogeneity, the outcomes of such processes.

A novel analytical framework delves into differentiation and understands heterogeneity based on three dimensions: within (how professions are structured internally), between (how professions distinguish themselves from other occupations and from each other), and beyond (how professions govern societal changes and influence differentiation processes). The book presents a collection of studies covering different countries and professions to demonstrate the analytical potential of the within-between-beyond model. The conclusions show how “neo-liberal” professionalism is putting the very idea of collegiate professions at stake while exposing emerging professions to market risks.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Diagrams
List of Tables
1: Introduction: Within, Between, Beyond—A Multi-dimensional Approach to the Study of Professionalism and Social Change
1 Professions in the Twenty-First Century: A Brief Introduction
2 Professions and Professionalism: (Re)defining the Concepts
3 Critical Processes of Change
3.1 The Post-Industrial Transition
3.2 Globalisation
3.3 Digitalisation
3.4 Professions and Society
4 A Three-Pronged Analytical Framework
4.1 The Within Dimension
4.2 The Between Dimension
4.3 The Beyond Dimension
4.4 The WBB Model
5 Differentiation in Action: An Overview
5.1 The Scope of the Book
5.2 An Outline of the Chapters
6 Taking Up the Challenge
References
Part I: Within
2: When Employment Status Shapes Professionalism. The Case of the Academic Labour Market in Switzerland
1 Introduction
2 Linking Micro-Level Practices and Macro-Level Regulations: For an Employment-Based Approach to Professionalism
3 Three Task-Based Profiles of Academics: The Researcher, the Teacher and the Manager
4 The Rise of Fixed-Term Contracts within Academic Institutions
5 Mapping the Experiences of Early-Career Stage Academics in the Swiss Context
5.1 A Diverse “Bundle of Tasks”
5.2 The Importance of Employment Status
6 Conclusion
References
3: Processes of Differentiation and Fragmentation within: South African Textile Designers
1 Methods
2 Professions and Professionalism
3 South African Textile Designers, Professionalism, Professional Values and Disruption
4 Changing “Societal Forces” Transforming the Professional Work Environment
5 Staying within the Organisation
5.1 Intensifying Managerial and Technological Control
5.2 Taking on Managerial Roles within Organisations
6 Operating Outside Organisations
6.1 Freelancers
6.2 The Post-Crisis Designers
7 Conclusions
Annex: List of Interviews
References
4: Models of Professionalism and Perceptions of Gender Discrimination in the Legal Profession
1 Introduction
2 Professionalism and Gender Inequalities in the Legal Profession
3 Methodology
3.1 Comparative Perspective
3.2 Data
3.3 Methods
4 Results
4.1 Are Alternative Models of Professionalism Gendered?
4.2 Gendered Models of Professionalism and Perceptions of Gender Discrimination
5 Conclusion
References
5: Are Platforms Changing Professionalism?
1 Introduction
2 From Platform Thinking to (Professional) Platform Work
3 The Transformations of Professionalism in Italy: A “within” Perspective
4 Research Design and Methods
5 Findings
5.1 The Platform as an Intermediary
5.2 The Platform as a New Form of Organising Work
6 Conclusions
References
6: Learning and Differentiation within Professions—The Cases of Teaching and Nursing
1 Introduction
2 Key Reforms and Their Implications
3 Teachers’ and Nurses’ Learning Conditions Amid the Key Reforms
3.1 Conditions for Learning in the Teaching Context
3.2 Conditions for Learning in the Nursing Context
4 Discussion
5 Concluding Remarks
References
Part II: Between
7: Changing Professional Status in Evolving Professional Systems: Towards Using a Descriptive Lens to Analyse Multi-layered Transformation Processes
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Theoretical Context of the Research
7.3 Ethnographic Context of the Research
7.3.1 On the International Level
7.3.2 On the Local Level
7.4 Presentation of Results
7.4.1 The Publicly Funded Health System and Practice of the Medical Profession in Quebec
7.4.2 The Role of the Private Market in the Engineering Sector in Quebec
7.4.3 Desacralising the Notion of Protection of the Public
7.4.4 A Need for Sustained Coordination Between the Actors and Institutions Involved
7.4.5 Centralising Information
7.4.6 Towards a Benevolent Use of the Notion of Protecting the Public
7.4.7 Assessment: Review of Practices and Reduced Waiting Times
7.5 Conclusions
References
8: Professionalism in Everyday Work: Women Lawyers’ Strategies to Exercise Control over Their Work in Finland, French Canada, and Poland
1 Introduction
2 Women and Changing Professionalism in the Legal Profession
3 Data and Methods
4 Results: Women Lawyers’ Strategies
4.1 Highlighting the Status of the Profession, Additional Educational Qualifications, and the Title of Law Firm Partner
4.2 Highlighting Altruistic Aspects of Legal Work
4.3 The “Typing” of Clients and Cases
4.4 Personalising Relationships with Clients
4.5 Establishing Joint Law Offices with Friends and Sharing Office Space
5 Discussion and Conclusion
References
9: The Professionalism, Accountability, and Work of Teachers in Different Regulatory Regimes
1 Introduction
2 Teacher Professionalism: Trends and Regulatory Regimes
2.1 Managerial Reforms and New Forms of Teacher Professionalism
2.2 Regulatory Models of the Teaching Profession
3 Findings: PBA in Different Professional Contexts
3.1 Market Model: Constrained Professional Autonomy and Tensions in Contexts of Accountability Pressures
3.2 Training Model: Enacting Agentic Professional Autonomy and Accommodating PBA Demands
3.3 Rules Model: Erratic Policy Trajectory, Uneven Professional Impacts
3.4 Professional Skills Model: Enhancing Performance Through a Culture of Testing?
4 Conclusions
References
10: Inequalities in Neo-mutualistic Professional Organisations: The Boundary Work of Creative Workers in Italy
1 Introduction
2 Boundary Work in Multi-professional Mutual Aid Organisations
3 Case Study and Methods
4 Main Research Results
4.1 Photographers
4.2 Video Makers
4.3 Lighting and Sound Technicians
5 ‘Dual’ Boundary Work: The Fit Between the Organisation’s Strategies and the Workers’ Strategies
5.1 Boundary Work as Part of the Cooperative’s Strategies
5.2 Boundary Work in Workers’ Strategies
6 Conclusions
References
Part III: Beyond
11: The Changing Nature of Profession-State Relations in Canada: The Persistence of Self-Regulation in the Context of Reform, 1960–2010
1 Introduction
2 Theorising Professions and Professional Regulation
3 Professional Regulation and Change in Canada
4 A Brief Note on Methodology and Sources
5 Findings
5.1 The 1960s and 1970s
5.2 The 1980s–1990s
5.3 The Early 2000s
6 Conclusion
References
12: Expand or Translate?: Theorising Work in Professionals’ Activism
1 Professions and Social Problems
2 Professionals for Social Change: Revisiting Professional Action and Work
3 Data and Methods
4 Two Modes of Professional Activism
4.1 Examples of Professional Activism in Architecture
4.2 Towards a Typology of Professional Activism
5 Conclusion
References
13: Social Media Influencers: A New Hybrid Professionalism in the Age of Platform Capitalism?
1 Introduction
2 Influencers: An Emblematic Professional Identity within Platform Capitalism
3 Methodological Approach
4 Social Influence at the Core of the Communications and Marketing Professions
4.1 The Social Function of Professionals in a World of Crises
4.2 Social Media Influencer: A Specific Form of Hybrid Professionalism that Challenges Marketing Strategies
5 Professionalism and Collective Action: The Case of Health Influencers
6 Conclusion
References
Practitioner Handbooks
14: Conclusions: Making Sense of Professionalism and Social Change
1 Back to the Idea behind the Book
2 Neo-Liberalism: The Missing Piece
3 Using the WBB Model to Study Neo-Liberal Professionalism
4 Key Findings by Analytical Dimension
4.1 The “within” Dimension
4.2 The “between” Dimension
4.3 The “beyond” Dimension
5 Moving Towards a Fuller Picture: Concluding Remarks and Future Directions
References