Professions

Professions are occupations that claim control over specific tasks through the mastery of abstract knowledge. Most theoretical development in the professions has focused on defining professional work, explaining the rise and dominance of professional groups, developing models of professional organization, and discussing systems of professions and knowledge claims.

Control over abstract knowledge confers legitimacy on professional groups, and this legitimacy usually translates into social prestige, power, and rewards for professionals. A key to understanding professions is the knowledge claims that professional groups make. These are rhetorical and institutional claims that professionals have exclusive control over specific tasks because the professional has mastered the abstract knowledge necessary to understand when, where, how, and under what conditions specific tasks will be performed.

In addition to knowledge claims, professions usually claim control over a specific task domain. A task domain is a set of specific behaviors and activities that can be linked, directly or indirectly, to the abstract knowledge claims of the profession. The combination of abstract and esoteric knowledge and monopoly or near monopoly over a task domain means that professionals usually have considerable autonomy over their work tasks. Whether this autonomy over the execution of tasks translates into the ability to determine the terms and conditions of work is one of the major long-term research problems addressed by students of the professions.

In the ideal-typical profession, control over a specific task domain and the abstract nature of knowledge claims place clients in dependent positions relative to professionals. In exchange for autonomy and control, professions are expected to require their incumbents to act in the best interests of their clients and the broader culture. These expectations often are embodied in codes of ethics that require professionals to act in the best interests of their clients or in accordance with abstract ideals (respect for the law, justice, fiduciary responsibility, etc.).

Professional work usually addresses some culturally important value (legal rights, health, scientific progress, safety, etc.). The fact that clients usually approach professionals at times when these values seem most salient to them increases the dependency of clients on professional practitioners.

Most professions are organized into professional associations that protect the interests of professionals by regulating the terms and conditions of work and developing codes of conduct that regulate behavior. Professional associations also regulate the qualifications necessary to enter the profession, and many professions have competency tests (bar exams and medical board exams being the two most prominent examples) that determine when would-be practitioners are ready to assume professional roles.