639
Professions, Power and Social Responsibility
Professions, Power and Social Responsibility
Abstract Submissions Closed
Thursday, 25 February 2021: 10:45-12:15
Location:
RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
Professions in the public and private sector were once classically viewed as paragons of virtue by trait and functionalist writers. Now professional groups from accountants and architects to doctors and lawyers have come under attack in terms of their integrity. On the one hand, they are criticized by Marxists for being agents of capital, while, on the other, Foucauldians see them as acting inseparably from the state in a form of governmentality that is not necessarily synonymous with progress. Neo-Weberians meanwhile often suggest that they pursue their own interests at the expense of the interests of clients or the wider public, while neo-institutionalists place them in a much broader and competitive global ecology in which they may not always be dominant players. In this and other senses, their power may be eroding with the rise of professional service firms, growing corporatization, the emergence of more vocal citizen lobbies, and expanding patterns of state regulation. In this situation and in a period where responsible leadership more generally has frequently been lacking, questions can be asked as to whether professions continue to exercise their shifting residual powers in a socially responsible fashion. Papers are invited that address this theme either generically or specifically in the contemporary context.
Session Organizer: