Professionalism
The Third Logic
1. Edition May 2001
264 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Eliot Freidson has written the first systematic account of
professionalism as a method of organizing work. In ideal-typical
professionalism, specialized workers control their own work, while
in the free market consumers are in command, and in bureaucracy
managers dominate. Freidson shows how each method has its own logic
requiring different kinds of knowledge, organization, career,
education and ideology. He also discusses how historic and national
variations in state policy, professional organization, and forms of
practice influence the strength of professionalism.
In appraising the embattled position of professions today, Freidson
concludes that ideologically inspired attacks pose less danger to
professionals' institutional privileges than to their ethical
independence to resist use of their specialized knowledge to
maximize profit and efficiency without also providing its benefits
to all in need.
This timely and original analysis will be of great interest to
those in sociology, political science, history, business studies
and the various professions.
Introduction.
Part One: Professionalism: the Ideal Type.
Chapter 1: Professional Knowledge and Skill.
Chapter 2: Divisions of Labour.
Chapter 3: Labor markets and Careers.
Chapter 4: Training Programs.
Chapter 5: Ideologies.
Part Two: The Contingencies of Professionalism.
Chapter 6: States and Associations.
Chapter 7: Bodies of Knowledge.
Chapter 8: The Assault on Professionalism.
Chapter 9: The Soul of Professionalism.
Notes.
References.
Index
distinguished career as a medical sociologist and student of the
professions. The book summarizes a wide range of literature within
Freidson's innovative and profound theory of professionalism as a
"logic" of institutions different from (and in conflict with) the
logics of the market and of bureaucracy. It should be required
reading for anyone concerned with the vital issue of the importance
of - and contemporary threats to - the social values intrinsic to
professionalism." Robert Alford, City University of New York
"As learned and tightly argued as any work in the Weberian
tradition, this book develops an ideal-type analysis of
professionalism that transcends the particular circumstances of
specific occupations. Freidson's distinctions between professions,
technical occupations and crafts are likely to inform all
subsequent discussions. Everyone who studies the professions will
need to take this important book into account." Steven Brint,
University of California, Riverside
