Journalism is viewed here as being in danger of becoming a profession, thereby changing the field into a narrow, monolithic, self?centered fellowship of true believers devoid of outward?looking and service orientations.

Professionalization and political engagement are usually placed as incompatible in the case of journalism and the mainstream press, resulting in an identification of cultural resistance exclusively with alternative/amateur vehicles. I will use the concept of journalistic field as introduced by Pierre Bourdieu to review these assumptions and to discuss a form of political resistance that acts in one’s own area of knowledge, is not overtly political and whose effects are not immediately accountable for.Drawing examples from my research on two (...) literary newspapers published in the 1950s in Brazil and Uruguay, this paper will focus on the implications of didacticism for literary criticism as a genre of newswriting. The analysis of these newspapers will lead to a reflection on two main issues: a) the conflict between the professionalization and democratization of literature; and b) the definition of resistance as necessarily an action that is against something. The article will reconsider education in journalism as a form of resistance, taking into account its risks of becoming political indoctrination and commercial manipulation, but emphasizing its potential as a way of expanding access to literature. (shrink)

(1994). Exchange on professionalization as marginalization: The American home economics movement and the rhetoric of legitimation. Social Epistemology: Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 123-132.

Though there has been interest in philosophical counselling in South Africa since at least the 1990s little has been accomplished by way of formalizing and developing the practice into a profession. We ask what would be required for it to become a fully-fledged profession? We argue that in order to count as a profession, a practice must meet certain normative, cognitive, and organizational criteria, but that philosophical counselling in South Africa falls short both cognitively and organizationally. This has implications for (...) individual philosophical practitioners, it would seem, who cannot any longer consider themselves professionals. We argue that being a professional is not contingent on belonging to an established profession, but rather that to claim to be a professional is to claim that one can be trusted because one has the client’s good at heart. Exploring the idea of trust highlights again, though this time from an ethical rather than from a sociological perspective, that there is an urgent need to fill the cognitive and organizational gap that exists in South Africa. We propose that in order to facilitate the professionalization of philosophical counselling in South Africa, we should adopt an approach that focuses on the training of philosophical counsellors in the hopes that an organizational component will grow out of this rather than following previous attempts to put organizations first. (shrink)

During the past hundred years or so, those scholars studying science have isolated themselves as much as possible from scientists as well as from workers in other disciplines who study science. The result of this effort is history of science, philosophy of science and sociology of science as separate disciplines. I argue in this paper that now is the time for these disciplinary boundaries to be lowered or at least made more permeable so that a unified discipline of Science Studies (...) might emerge. I discuss representative problems that stand in the way of such an integration. These problems may seem so formidable in the abstract that no one in their right mind would waste their time trying to bring about a unified field of Science Studies. However, those of us who limit ourselves to the study of the biological sciences have already formed a society in which workers from all disciplines can share their expertise -- the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science. (shrink)

One of the challenges of modern healthcare ethics practice is the navigation of boundaries. Practicing healthcare ethicists in the performance of their role must navigate meanings, choices, decisions and actions embedded in complex cultural and social relationships amongst diverse individuals. In light of the evolving state of modern healthcare ethics practice and the recent move toward professionalization via certification, understanding boundary navigation in healthcare ethics practice is critical. Because healthcare ethics is endowed with many boundaries which often delineate concerns (...) about professional expertise and authority, epistemological reflection on the relationship between theory and practice points toward the social context as relevant to the conceptualization of boundaries. The skills of social scientists may prove helpful to provide data and insights into the conceptualization and navigation of clinical ethics qua profession. Empirical ethics research, which combines empirical description (usually social scientific) with normative-ethical analysis and reflection, is a way forward as we engage and reflect upon issues which have implications for practice standards and professionalization of the role. This requires cooperative engagement of the descriptive and normative disciplines to explore our understandings of boundaries in healthcare ethics practice. This will contribute to the ongoing reflection not only as we envision the professional role but to ensure that it is enacted in practice. (shrink)

In modern academic career systems there are a large number of entry positions, much smaller numbers of intermediate positions, and still fewer full professorships. We examine how this system has developed in Germany, the country where the modern academic system was introduced, tracing the historical development of academic positions since the early 19th century. We show both a differentiation and professionalization. At first, professorships and private lecturer positions were the only formal positions, but later, lower formal academic positions emerged. (...) Over the whole period, the share of higher academic positions steadily decreased. This differentiation process was closely connected to professionalization: remuneration through salaries was extended from professors to almost everyone working in the German academic system. We propose that the process of differentiation and professionalization was induced by the expansion and democratization of higher education. Finally, our study shows that the opportunities for PhDs to obtain salaried doctoral positions have increased since the 1950s. On the other hand, opportunities for PhDs to become a professor or obtain another tenured job have decreased since the 1980s due to a slowdown of higher education expansion. (shrink)

The professionalization of modern nursing education from 1850 and forward is closely linked to values and virtues underpinned by Christian ideals, sex-based stereotypes and class. Development in the late 19th century of modern hospital medicine, combined with a scientific understanding of antisepsis and asepsis, hygiene, contagion prevention and germ theory, were highly influential insights to the dominant position of modern medicine in health care. This development constituted a key premise for what nurses, by virtue of being women, and combined (...) with their education, could offer in terms of medical assistance. It enabled them to challenge the prevailing sex-based stereotypes- and class-based hierarchies, allowing modern nursing to retain aspects of both traditional Christian and womanly values, while at the same time adhering to the medical science paradigm. In this paper, we argue that modern nursing education developed in a context characterized by traditional female and religious values, while at the same time being increasingly dominated by the influence of scientific and medical progress. This conflict between traditional and modern values caused dilemmas and tensions as the nursing profession developed. We argue further that similar dilemmas and tensions continue to pervade contemporary nursing and nursing education. (shrink)

This text was conceived as an attempt to describe the organizational field of veterinary medicine of companion animals in Russia and its impact on the processes of formation of the profession of veterinarians of companion animals as a separate professional group. Having emerged in the early 1990s in Russia as a separate branch of veterinary medicine, veterinary medicine of companion aimals has gone from intuitive practices of treating dogs and cats to a complex organizational field with many actors. Despite such (...) rapid development, this area, unlike agricultural veterinary medicine, still considerably lacks strong institutional regulation. The profession of a veterinarian of companion animals does not live in the conventional continental model of professionalization for our region but it is market-oriented and develops through the veterinarians' own efforts while they do not exist outside veterinary clinics - their own organizational field. The article offers a description of this organizational field and analyzes the influence of its structure on the processes of professionalization of veterinarians of companion animals. (shrink)

While in Europe the debate over clinical ethics consultants’ expertise and professionalization is ongoing, in France it remains rather marginal. In this article, we illustrate how the “commitment model” adopted by the Clinical Ethics Center of the Greater Paris University Hospitals situates itself in such a debate. We first present the commitment model by drawing upon an emblematic case of consultation, and then describe, in turn, its understandings of democratic expertise and of the professionalization of clinical ethics consultation. (...) Accordingly, the commitment model advocates against individual consultants’ certification, but it does not rule out the need for training nor a certain form of professionalization of clinical ethics consultation services. (shrink)

L’article porte sur la construction en cours dans le champ de l’intervention sociale d’un nouvel espace épistémique, curriculaire et institutionnel (conjoint universités-écoles sociales). Il cherche à qualifier les marqueurs de cette « forme universitaire de professionnalisation » qui se construit entre prescription ministérielle et pratiques des acteurs. Il présente des ingénieries de professionnalisation au travail qui se réfèrent à des figures de professionnalité faisant débat.

Historical continuities and constraints in the professionalization of nursingThe support of medicine and the state may be crucial to nursing's current professional aspirations for legitimation and implementation of nursing reforms and for new roles for nurses in health care. As such, medicine and the state are in the invidious position of influencing nursing's occupational future. This situation is not new. An historical analysis of the establishment of nursing at Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia, at the end of the nineteenth (...) century reveals that the State Government of NSW and the medical profession supported nursing's occupational development, yet set the framework within which this could occur. For instance, the state provided patronage to nursing through recommendations of the 1873 Royal Commission and because it financially backed Prince Alfred Hospital, while the medical profession defined nursing knowledge and practice through its control of the nursing curriculum. Membership of the hospital board provided both medicine and the state with powerful positions over hospital policies that affected nursing. While nursing became established as a distinct occupation for women with the aid of State and medical support, its subordinate position in health care was, and continues to be, constrained by these traditional supporters. This relationship between nursing, medicine and the state has implications for nursing's current professionalization strategies and aspirations. (shrink)

Volume 20, Issue 3, March 2020, Page 44-46.

Early on in the development of Practicing Healthcare Ethicists Exploring Professionalization (PHEEP), the founding members recognized the need to address and meet two important goals: (1) the creation of a dynamic, rigorous process to support the exploratory work, and (2) the establishment of the means—deliberative engagement—to generate and justify the substantive content of professionalization-related products, such as practice standards and position statements. Drawing from social justice and deliberative democracy conceptions and insights (among others), the authors identify and describe (...) the core elements of the “process scaffolding” and “deliberative means” that inform PHEEP’s deliberative engagement methodology. The paper demonstrates how these process and substantive features have been meaningfully instantiated in the decision making framework established by PHEEP for its use in the development of professionalization-related products by Canadian practicing healthcare ethicists. (shrink)

This article investigates the changing justifications of one of the hallmarks of orthodox psychoanalytic practice, the neutral and abstinent stance of the psychoanalyst, during the middle decades of the 20th century. To call attention to the shifting rationales behind a supposedly cold, detached style of treatment still today associated with psychoanalysis, explanations of the clinical utility of neutrality and abstinence by ‘classical’ psychoanalysts in the United States are contrasted with how intellectuals and cultural critics understood the significance of psychoanalytic abstinence. (...) As early as the 1930s, members of the Frankfurt School discussed the cultural and social implications of psychoanalytic practices. Only in the 1960s and 1970s, however, did psychoanalytic abstinence become a topic within broader intellectual debates about American social character and the burgeoning ‘therapy culture’ in the USA. The shift from professional and epistemological concerns to cultural and political ones is indicative of the changing appreciation of psychoanalysis as a clinical discipline: for psychoanalysts as well as cultural critics, I argue, changing social mores and the professional decline of psychoanalysis infused the image of the abstinent psychoanalyst with nostalgic longing, making it a symbol of resistance against a culture seen to be in decline. (shrink)

This study investigated (1) whether potential future purchasing agents were predisposed to accept gratuities or whether the practice of gratuity acceptance is a manifestation of the job itself, (2) whether the existence of a code of ethics forbidding gratuity acceptance curtails the occurrence, and (3) whether disparities in ethics policies between the sales and purchasing functions affect gratuity acceptance. Hypotheses based upon the concepts of organizational concern and institutionalized ethics are developed and empirically tested. Results suggest that future purchasing agents (...) are predisposed to accept gratuities and that formal written ethics policies decrease the acceptance of gratuities. Disparities in ethics policies between the sales and purchasing functions concerning gratuities failed to affect gratuity acceptance significantly. (shrink)

Scientific realists have suggested that changes in our scientific communities over the course of their history have rendered those communities progressively less vulnerable to the problem of unconcieved alternatives over time. I argue in response not only that the most fundamental historical transformations of the scientific enterprise have generated steadily mounting obstacles to revolutionary, transformative, or unorthodox scientific theorizing, but also that we have substantial independent evidence that the institutional apparatus of contemporary scientific inquiry fosters an exceedingly and increasingly theoretically (...) conservative form of that inquiry. I conclude that contemporary scientific communities are actually more vulnerable to the problem of unconceived alternatives than their historical predecessors, and I briefly suggest how we might seek to pursue scientific inquiry in a less theoretically conservative way. (shrink)

The traditional roles of Christian chaplains in aiding patients, physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators in repentance, right belief, right worship, and right conduct are challenged by the contemporary professionalization of chaplaincy guided by post-Christian norms located in a public space structured by three defining postulates: the non-divinity of Christ, robust ecumenism, and the irrelevance of God’s existence. The norms of this emerging post-Christian profession of chaplaincy make interventions with patients, physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators in defense of specifically Christian (...) bioethical norms and goals unprofessional, because the chaplain is now directed as a professional to support health care services held to standards articulated within a secular morality. These changes are exemplar of the profound recasting of the dominant moral culture with wide-ranging implications for bioethics. (shrink)

Because Francis Galton (1822-1911) was a well-connected gentleman scientist with substantial private means, the importance of the role he played in the professionalization of the Victorian life-sciences has been considered anomalous. In contrast to the X-clubbers, he did not seem to have any personal need for the reforms his Darwinist colleagues were advocating. Nor for making common cause with individuals haling from social strata clearly inferior to his own. However, in this paper I argue that Galton quite realistically discerned (...) in the reforming endeavors of the 1860s, and beyond, the potential for considerably enhancing his own reputation and standing within both the scientific community and the broader Victorian culture. In addition, his professionalizing aspirations, and those of his reformist allies, were fully concordant with the interests, ambitions and perceived opportunities of his elite social group during the Victorian period. Professionalization appealed to gentlemen of Galton's status and financial security as much as it did to the likes of Thomas Huxley and John Tyndall, primarily because it promised to confer on the whole scientific enterprise an unprecedented level of social prestige. (shrink)

Participant observation, focus groups, and in-depth interviews were used to study the professionalization of women enrolled in engineering school. Two aspects of the professionalization process were examined: adapting to the professional culture and internalizing the professional identity. The study found support for a Goffmanesque interpretation of professionalization; engineering students learn how to manage others' impressions of them as professionals to gain their trust and confidence. Women also must learn to manage impressions male engineers hold of them. They (...) present themselves as competent, nonthreatening, and solidary members of the profession. (shrink)

Healthcare ethics consultation has been developed, practiced, and analyzed internationally. However, only a few professional standards have evolved globally in this field that would be comparable to standards in other areas of healthcare. This article cannot compensate for this situation. It contributes to the ongoing debate on professionalization by presenting experiences with ethics consultation in Austria, though. After exploring its contexts and providing an overview of one of its primary ethics programs, the article analyzes the underlying assumptions of “ethics (...) consultation” as an essential effort on the path to professionalize ethics consultation. (shrink)

ArgumentThis paper focuses on the Jewish nursing profession in Poland during the interwar period. We argue that the integration of Jewish women in medical activity under the AJDC (American Jewish Distribution Committee) and TOZ (Towarzystwa Ochrony Zdrowia Ludności Żydowskiej [the Society for the Protection of the Health of the Jewish People]) emerged in Poland less from the adoption of gender equality and more out of necessity. On the one hand, JDC and TOZ needed Jewish nurses and public health nurses to (...) carry out their health campaigns and build a public health infrastructure. On the other hand, a new generation of Jewish women needed job opportunities that would enable them to make a living and be independent. More broadly this case study shows that the implementation of American “reformative” ideals into the local Polish reality, including in the newly emerging public health field, involved adaptation, negotiation, and in some cases, resentment. (shrink)

In this article,we address how the professionalization process is reflected in the way Danish nursing textbooks present ‘nursing’ to new members of the profession during the 20th century. The discussion is based on a discourse analysis of seven Danish textbooks on basic nursing published between 1904 and 1996. The analysis was inspired by the work of Michel Foucault, in particular the concepts of rupture and rules of formation. First, we explain how the dominating role of the human body in (...) nursing textbooks disappears in the mid‐20th century. This transformation can of course be attributed to changes in tasks and responsibilities for nurses or to the implementation of increasing amounts of knowledge and theories from other disciplines than medicine into the nurses’ knowledge base. However, inspired by Foucault, we consider these historical changes to be the conditions of possibilities and not causes. The second part of the analysis shows that along with ‘the disappearance of the body’, a second discursive change appears: the role of doctors and medicine changes fundamentally from about mid‐20th century. Finally, we argue that this discursive reorganization enabling new patterns of thought to emerge was driven by a professional interest in describing nursing as an independent profession. (shrink)

During the 1920s and 1930s geneticist L. C. Dunn of Columbia University cautioned Americans against endorsing eugenic policies and called attention to eugenicists' less than rigorous practices. Then, from the mid-1940s to early 1950s he attacked scientific racism and Nazi Rassenhygiene by co-authoring Heredity, Race and Society with Theodosius Dobzhansky and collaborating with members of UNESCO on their international campaign against racism. Even though shaking the foundations of scientific discrimination was Dunn's primary concern during the interwar and post-World War II (...) years, his campaigns had ancillary consequences for the discipline. He contributed to the professionalization of genetics during the 1920s and 1930s and sought respectability for human genetics in the 1940s and 1950s. My article aims to elucidate the activist scientist's role in undermining scientific discrimination by exploring aspects of Dunn's scientific work and political activism from the 1920s to 1950s. Definitions are provided for scientific discrimination and activist scientist. (shrink)

There has been much controversy concerning the benefits of the certification (professionalization) of financial planners and the merits of various compensation systems; this study examined the controversy insofar as it concerned ethical orientation rather than competence issues. The study was delimited to financial planners practicing in the United States of America. It was found that Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designees manifested higher ethical orientation scores than non-designees. Fee-based planners manifested no significantly different ethical orientation scores as compared to their (...) counterparts. Lower ethical orientation scores were noted among planners whose career tenure exceeded 10 years. (shrink)

I argue that it is possible to reframe the current debates over professionalization in a way that can account for disagreement without insisting that its advocates and opponents are adversaries. Giles Scofield, and critics like him, may be understood as engaging in the sort of theoretical disagreement that is an inescapable and vital part of our practice. The field could profit from the work of legal theorist Ronald Dworkin who has long argued that people of good will and great (...) competence need not share foundational assumptions. They may, instead, be advancing rival interpretations of what the practice of healthcare ethics (PHE) requires. (shrink)

In her work on moral reasoning, Carol Gilligan identifies two distinct models which she terms the ‘voice of care’ and the ‘voice of justice’. The ‘voice of justice’ informs a professional practice grounded in fairness and objectivity and is principally concerned with rights and obligations. It can motivate the drive for legislation and codes of ethics that provide clear rules and regulations to govern social care practice. In contrast, the ‘voice of care’ prioritises relationships, requiring practitioners to pay attention to (...) the particularity of each moral situation. As a result, the demand to commit to upholding universal principles and rights cannot be met. This paper explores the nature of the conflict between the moral voice of care and justice, applying insights from these diverging voices to deepen our understanding of the kind of professionalization appropriate in social care. (shrink)

As ethics services have become more integrated into healthcare organizations, the controversy regarding the possible professionalization of healthcare ethics practices has re-emerged. Some of the debate focuses on whether healthcare ethics practice possesses the attributes of a ‘true profession.’ This study examines the history of the professions and the relevance of this historical material, as well as sociological insights, for contemporary concerns. It explores whether the mismatch between traditional models of professional knowledge and the knowledge foundation for healthcare ethics (...) is at the core of these concerns. It also takes the position that given the role healthcare ethics plays in assisting patients, families, healthcare providers, and others with complex moral decisions it is important to work towards developing standards that can be used to guide and evaluate the work. (shrink)

Beginning from a preliminary explanation in Part 1 (Logeion, v.1, n.2) about the transitional zone between system and world of life, this paper discusses the enrichment of the production of informational knowledge, focusing on the crucial role of normative professionalization and organizational cultures in Humanistic Information Studies. The concept of normative professionalization, initially constructed from Habermas analysis of ‘system’ and ‘world of life’, and Foucault’s analysis of ‘truth’ and power in the social sciences, was enriched by the dialog (...) with Freidson about "good works", Ricoeur's ethical perspective, the ethics of craftsmanship developed by Sennett, and Schön's analysis of professional reflexivity. Today it is possible to view the initially referred to transitional zone as a dynamic place where contemporary organizational theory and normative professionalization may open perspectives to wider moral values. Great conceptual efforts are needed. But the greatest challenge lies in the normative aspects which require new forms of cooperation based on radical equality between academic researchers and professionals working in organizations to connect the different forms of knowledge on the basis of equality, and characteristics established on the practice-based character of normative professionalization. ESTUDOS HUMANÍSTICOS DA INFORMAÇAO: UMA PROPOSTA.PARTE 2: A PROFISSIONALIZAÇÃO NORMATIVA ResumoPartindo do entendimento de uma zona de transição entre sistema e mundo da vida, apresentado na Parte 1 (Logeion, v.1, n.2), este texto discute o enriquecimento da produção de conhecimento informacional, enfocando o papel crucial da profissionalização normativa e das culturas organizacionais nos Estudos Humanísticos da Informação. O conceito de profissionalização normativa, inicialmente construído a partir da análise de 'sistema' e 'mundo da vida' de Habermas e da análise de Foucault sobre a relação entre verdade e poder nas ciências sociais, foi enriquecido pelo diálogo com Freidson sobre o "bom trabalho", a perspectiva ética de Ricoeur, a ética do artesanato desenvolvida por Sennett, e a análise da reflexividade profissional de Schön. Hoje podemos ver referida zona de transição inicial como um lugar dinâmico, onde a teoria organizacional contemporânea e a profissionalização normativa podem abrir a perspectiva de valores morais mais amplos. São ainda necessários grandes esforços conceituais. O maior desafio reside no lado normativo, que pede novas formas de cooperação com base na igualdade radical entre pesquisadores acadêmicos e profissionais que trabalham em organizações, para conectar as diferentes formas de conhecimento sobre uma base da igualdade e nas características, situadas e baseadas na prática, da profissionalização normativa. (shrink)

Prior to August Weismann’s 1889 germ-plasm theory, social reformers believed that humans could inherit the effects of a salubrious environment and, by passing environmentally-induced modifications to their offspring, achieve continuous progress. Weismann’s theory disrupted this logic and caused many to fear that they had little control over human development. As numerous historians have observed, this contributed to the birth of the eugenics movement. However, through an examination of the work of social scientists Lester Frank Ward, Richard T. Ely, Amos Griswold (...) Warner, James Mark Baldwin, Simon Nelson Patten, Alfred Kroeber, Walter Robinson Smith, and Luther Lee Bernard, I demonstrate that Weismann’s ideas also prompted scholars to create of theories of human progress in which the social environment had a central role and biological heredity had a diminished one. Furthermore, in creating a new theory of social progress based on a concept called “social heredity,” the thinkers surveyed in this article separated biological and social thought and asserted the independence of the American social sciences. I argue that this represents an important moment in the maturation of the human sciences, and I suggest that the germ-plasm theory of heredity deserves a larger place in histories of the development of the American social scientific disciplines. (shrink)

ArgumentThis article examines the medical and political discussions regarding a controversial medicinal bark from Ecuador – cundurango – that was actively sponsored by the Ecuadorian government as a new botanical cure for cancer in the late nineteenth century United States and elsewhere. The article focuses on the commercial and diplomatic interests behind the public discussion and advertising techniques of this drug. It argues that diverse elements – including the struggle for positioning scientific societies and the disapproval of the capacities of (...) Ecuadorian doctors, US abolitionist history, regional and local political struggles – played a role in the quackery accusations against cundurango and its promoters. The development and international trade of this remedy offer interesting insights into the global history of drugs, particularly how medical knowledge was challenged during a period when scientific medicine was struggling for hegemony. It explores how newspapers expanded “the public interest” in a possible cancer cure. (shrink)

Market events of the past few years have resurrected long unheeded calls for the professionalization of the occupation of business manager, not in terms of increased technical proficiency, but in terms of a renewed vigor to shape the practice of management and the education of those who will fill its ranks along the lines of the “ideal of service” which characterizes socially established professions like law and medicine. In this paper I argue that the push to professionalize business management (...) can be grounded in an ISCT (Integrative Social Contracts Theory) treatment of the “vulnerable values” argument which itself has served as a source for the professionalization of medicine and law. Additionally, I offer a sketch of an argument that once business managers are considered to be members of a profession, we can begin to develop an account of “business malpractice” which would, when it occurs, represent an ethical violation of the “publicpledge” that members of all professions make to serve the broader good of society. (shrink)