View Single Post
Old 10-16-2012, 12:31   #43
Sigaba
Area Commander
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Southern California
Posts: 4,482
IRT to the definition of profession offered in post #39, FWIW, a literature review of sociological definitions of "profession" can be found in R.D. Hughes's doctoral dissertation, "Transforming Professions: A Case Study of Social Work in the Australian Defence Organization" (2006), pages 41-62. This document is available here.

The short version is, "It's complicated." A thumbnail is that there's no single acceptable definition of what constitutes a profession because various professions define themselves (a) after the fact, (b) in a manner that justifies a monopolization of a field of knowledge/expertise, and (c) so that a particular profession can corner a sector of the political economy. (A fourth part of her definition centers around a profession's role as an agent of cultural hegemony. YMMV.)
Sigaba is offline   Reply With Quote