Major Themes in Industrialised Societies: Professionals at Work

 

We shall examine three approaches to professional practices: the functionalist perspective, the Weberian approach and the Social Practice model.

 

Introduction

a) There has been a growth of the professional class due to the expansion of the public sector and the service sector in the modern society:

1911:                  4% of the workforce

1971:                  11%                 ‘’

1996:                  13%                 ‘’

b) There are two types of professionals in terms of status, education and income:

i) higher professionals: judges, barristers, doctors, dentists, accountants and lecturers

ii) lower professionals: teachers, nurses, social workers and librarians

c) Payment

i) higher professionals:

1914:             230% of average male pay

1978:             159%               ‘’

ii) lower professionals:

1914:             109% of average male pay

1978:             104%               ‘’

d) Gender divide

1989: professional men:   £ 404.20 per week

               ‘’          women:            £ 302.80 per week

 

Approaches to Professions

There are three key approaches to professional practices and ethics.

 

a) The functionalist perspective

- Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons

i) Professionals have a high degree of ‘commitment’ to the development and flourishing of the society; i.e., the ‘public interest’.

ii) Professionals possess the technical knowledge that no other group can have; e.g., medical and legal knowledge are monopolised by doctors and lawyers.

Consumers / clients cannot control the professionals, since they cannot judge the quality of professional service. The service users face difficulties in exiting ‘the market’ and in evaluating the quality of social goods (e.g., education and health).

iii) Professionals are more motivated by their commitment to the ‘public service’ than by private gain. Care workers and teachers express their job satisfaction in terms of helping people and serving the community.

iv) The behaviour of professionals is controlled by a code of ethics, professional associations and professional training; e.g., the Hippocratic Oath and solicitors’ articles. Ethical codes and associations monitor and discipline professional practices, so that they are compatible with the public interest.

v) Professionals’ high salary and status reflect their contributions to the society. However, many of these claims are questionable – there are many examples of abuse and mis-use of power for personal and collective interests. For instance, doctors are reluctant to allow nurses to undertake some medical examination because this would undermine their monopoly and status in the hospital.

 

b) The Weberian approach

- Max Weber and Michel Foucault

i) Professionals seek to control and monopolise their labour market in order to maximise their rewards.

ii) Professionals adopt the strategy of social closure to restrict labour entry into their occupations using tactics, such as training, qualifications, credentials and professional membership; e.g., doctors need several years of training and need to pass various examinations before they can practise.

iii) Professionals have jurisdiction over their work, meaning that they have expertise to practise and discipline their own activity. Professional associations give the image of commitment to the ‘public service’, but actually they prevent public scrutiny of their own work, protect their own members from criticisms and attacks from outside, and promote and lobby for their own interests in the public sphere. For instance, lecturers resent outside regulation of their research and teaching, and resist the government policy to measure their performance.

iv) Professionals monopolise expertise and know-how, so ensuring that only they can make appropriate judgements and practise in specific areas. They resist others from coming into their territory. For instance, barristers oppose plans for solicitors to present cases in the Crown Court, arguing that the latter do not have expertise.

v) Professionals are supported by the state, royal charters and legal protections; e.g., teachers require some form of teaching qualifications to practise.

vi) However, professionals are often servants to other interest groups, such as the state and the business community; e.g., acting as their advisors and promoting their cause through research and professional support. Furthermore, professionals lack real independence and autonomy to act to further their own interests because they are disciplined by competitive pressures and government policy to be more cost-effective and productive. For instance, in neo-liberal capitalistic society, professionals have to be more flexible and responsive to service-users / customers in health, education and the law.

 

c) The Social Practice Model

- Alasdair Macintyre and Russell Keat

i) This approach avoids suggesting that professionals are either altruistic (as in the functionalist perspective) or self-interested (as in the Weberian approach). Professional practices are not a matter of choice between the public interest and self-interest. Professionals seek both intrinsic satisfaction and external rewards, aiming to achieve job satisfaction, commitment to the ‘public service’, power, status and income. Lecturers enjoy engaging with colleagues and students in teaching, learning and researching, though they want to have adequate prestige and income as well.

ii) Social practices are defined by standards set within the professional community. These standards identify good practices. For instance, good teaching practices are defined by teachers, irrespective of any personal and collective interests, so that learning and teaching promote a thriving and flourishing society, in which individuals achieve well-being. In short, social practices contribute to the overall well-being of the society.

iii) Professionals have concerns for good practices, not for an overall public interest. Good practices define how well they work, through recognition from their colleagues and peers (praise and prizes). Professionals, who fail to satisfy their professional standards, are being dis-honest to themselves, and this is ultimately self-defeating, since they are denying themselves the pleasures of their own practices.

vi) Professionals aim to achieve enjoyment through practising their activity, so contributing to their own well-being and to the development of a good society. Nevertheless, professionals still need to achieve reasonable external rewards, such as income and status, and must work to balance internal job satisfaction with organisational and institutional needs for efficiency, cost-effectiveness and productivity.