Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)

Professional Occupations and Organizations. Part I

Abstract Submissions Closed

RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups (host committee)
RC17 Sociology of Organization

Language: English

This is a joint session between RC52/RC17 which seeks to explore the intersection between professional occupations and organizations. Within this context, this session explores the following questions: 

• How is the organization of professional firms developing? What new organizational models are emerging? To what extent do these depart from traditional patterns of professional organization and from other sectors of the economy?
• To what extent are occupational and organizations actually hybridized or “blended”? In what ways are occupational and professional logics reconfigured, re-stratified and relocated in and around organizations?
• How are professionals managed, motivated, controlled and led within private and public sector professional organizations? What new managerial techniques and approaches are being developed to this effect? What impact do these have for traditional notions of professional autonomy and independence?
• How do the strategies and practices of professional organizations reproduce or disrupt unequal career and opportunity structures within professional occupations? How do careers of professional workers evolve, including professional learning and development?
• To what extent are organizations affecting established professionalization projects? Are they disrupting or harbouring the emergence of new ones? To what extent are they creating new forms of “corporate” professionalism and professionalization and how do these depart form established ones?
• Do (groups of) professional workers have sufficient professional competencies and capabilities to cope with the complexities of tasks and clientele? How are these competencies (re)developed, also outside organizations?
• How do the strategies and activities of professional organizations contribute to the development, maintenance or transformation of institutions in the broader political economy?