Is there still value in the status of professions professionals - lloyddavis/ckop GitHub Wiki

The session began by Cara highlighting the fluidity of definitions of profession and how the challenges to traditional notions of profession had highlighted the increasing fluidity and ambiguity, thus leading to the question for that session around the continued value in professional status.

Hilary observed that she liked Fournier’s use of professionalism as a discourse and therefore a way to represent people and therefore something we’re all subject to because it is used ideologically. She also highlighted how the legal profession was a microcosm of this (e.g. difficult to call a lawyer ‘professional’ due to infiltration from other non-professionals, diversity implications, however in the higher echelons of law personal bonds with clients still prevail). She also reminded the group that in Weberian terms of the professional project, opacity was built into the fluidity of professionalization as a ‘project’ because it had to be something that could adapt and change.

Expert labour as a new term – used in Staffan’s new book with Andreas Werr where they look at management consultancy and its democratic claims but argue it is still organised (through a professional association, but the consultancy is also a major organising principle, and also through the market where those that sell get a voice). With this level of organisation, Staffan highlighted that some patterns are emerging in terms of the behaviour that is demanded.

Attention then turned to the rise and fall of the nursing profession where Rachael explained that in 2013 there was the requirement for degree qualification but that this is gradually being eroded and with it the status of nurses. This links to austerity measures and represents a de-skilling and reverse professionalization of nursing. Equally, specialisms were removed because of the costs involved. She queried whether this as because it’s ‘women’s work’ and involves tacit knowledge and emotional labour.

Focus then turned to the client – Hilary observed in the legal sector there was a breaking down of the client relationship but there was also a bizarre paradox of the notion of client ‘rights’ for the client emerging at the same time. Consideration was given to the standardisation of expertise and how that was actually eroding the ‘expert’ and fed into the wider derision of the ‘expert’ in media and political discourse we now see.

This led to a wider reflection on the difficulty to mobilise when profession becomes more fractured and fragmented as a concept and therefore the march of neo-liberalism (NL) continues. In relation to this, Hilary highlighted the work of Nancy Fraser who argued there was an emancipatory dimension of NL with the democratisation of the power of elites but stated that the alliance of NL with neo-conservatism has just meant that the old signifiers of merit have prevailed and therefore the elite are more elite than ever. Yet, as Staffan and Cara observed the corporate professions still want this traditional professional status in some guise.

The group considered how these debates and issues were reflected in academia, where Emma observed that it can be seen in the increasing pressure to meet metrics and standardisation (which had featured in recent news headlines in academic press) and the impact on the early career researcher that are likely to leave the profession under these pressures.

It led the group to surmise that there was a lessening trust in professions to organise societies but with it had been an increasing trust in organisations rather than professions to play this role. This was resulting in the emergence of the notion of public trust and social good in relation to corporate professions, which Cara observed in public relations.

Other notes: Separation of expert and public knowledge is becoming increasingly eroded We discussed the fluid/eroding status of professions, e.g. nursing – defined as women’s work and associated with emotional labour, problem of nurses leaving the profession, also impacting on mental wellbeing Discourse of ‘quality’ and client service is being used for cost-cutting purposes, this is happening in contexts such as Sweden as well as the UK At the same time, occupations such as Public Relations are seeking to become recognised as professionals which is puzzling