Suchergebnisse

Notwithstanding the growing numbers of women entering the professions and considerable public debate concerned with equal opportunity and barriers to women's advancement, attempts to theorise the relation between gender and profession within the discipline of sociology remain relatively rare. This paper draws on recent work on the gendering of organisation and bureaucracy to suggest that a key issue for consideration is not so much the exclusion of women from work defined as professional, but rather their routine inclusion in ill-defined support roles. This adjunct work of women, it is argued, facilitates the `fleeting encounter' of professional practice, thereby resting on, and celebrating, a specific historical and cultural construction of masculinity and a masculinist vision of professional work. In an era where professions are under unprecedented public scrutiny, sociological attention to their renewal needs to recognise that a key feature of profession, as presently defined, is that it professes gender.

Professionalism undergoing change is discussed from different theoretical standpoints within this special issue.

The article is devoted to theoretical approaches in the domain of sociology of professions and in particular the application of the concepts of actor-network theory in the study of the phenomenon of professions. Social transformations of the late XX — early XXI centuries, and, in particular, changes in the professional structure of society lead to criticism of the profession as a category of analysis and the existing analytical apparatus of "social sociology" in the study of professions and occupations. The article lists and considers the main paradigms and approaches to the study of the phenomenon of professions in the sociological perspective, the main angles and emphases within these approaches. The text presents the basic terms and ideas of the actor-network approach as one of the sociological perspectives, presents the basic terms and concepts of this area of sociological theorizing. An attempt was made to apply the concepts of actor-network approach to the profession as a socio-technical actor network and the formation of the profession (professionalization) as a process of translation and creation of the actor network, "monopolization of expertise" by the profession as an extended network. The article presents examples of consideration of the activities of professionals and their interactions in socio-technical systems in the research of the actor-network approach and considers the possibility of applying the principles of actor-network theory in the context of research professions and professional structure of society. An attempt is made to generalize the characteristics and activities of professionals carried out in the framework of research in the actor-network approach and find potential starting points for the study of professions in line with actor-network theory. Socio-technological nature of professions, the existence of the profession as a network of interactions and at the same time a professional as an actor in other networks, the length of networks of expert knowledge as the dominant way to explain phenomena, can be considered as general principles of professional activity.

AbstractKey metaphors guide our way of thinking in that, among other things, they provide perspective, relations, directions, distances, causality, features, and principles. The literature on professions appears to encompass at least two overarching key metaphors, one that likens professional groups to a hierarchy, and another that describes them as a landscape. This article provides an analysis of two key metaphors in the literature on professions, the purpose being to outline, analyse, and relate them to a number of other central concepts. In carrying out this analysis, questions relating to the similarities and differences between the two metaphors will be addressed. What are their epistemic virtues, and what are the consequences of privileging one metaphor over the other?

Abstract
The paper addresses the impact of higher education reforms on academic teaching and the concrete implications of the new academic teaching requirements for the professional practice of professors. It explores how labour market requirements change the university from the point of view of professors and how they deal with these changes. The paper draws on 64 interviews with professors from Germany, which were conducted as part of a qualitative study on the consequences of performance evaluation procedures at German universities.

How does normative change occur in international organisations (IOs)? The literature has theorised IO behaviour as being a consequence of the interest of powerful states, or has applied concepts borrowed from organisational sociology related to bureaucratic dysfunction, such as 'dysfunctional behaviour', 'pathologies', or 'organised hypocrisy'. This article argues that using the sociology of professions can augment constructivist theorising of IO behaviour and offer a better understanding of normative change in IOs. The evolving norm of 'Responsibility to Protect' (R2P) has a significant impact on how the UN supports and intervenes in member states, and on the core principle of sovereignty in the international system. By examining the R2P concept and process, this article shows how key donor states, think tanks, and academic institutions have, together with the UN, pushed for R2P, effectively driving normative change in the international system. Such change is seen not solely as a top–down function of state interests, but as also a bottom–up process driven by advocacy and support from key donor states, think tanks, and academic circles. Further, for grasping how norms develop, a constructivist framework influenced by the sociology of professions appears better suited than existing constructivist frameworks.