5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

It is well known that the sociology of professions was born with a distinctly Anglo-American focus. Although some other geographies have been studied later––e.g. continental Europe––, the field has largely reflected global inequalities in knowledge production and, therefore, remained often confined to the study of national cases from the so-called Global North. This situation has compromised the field’s theoretical and empirical potential. As postcolonial perspectives have repeatedly shown, exploring the (multiple) realities of the Global South can not only lead to new substantive topics and lines of inquiry: it can also encourage less “provincial” frameworks. Against this background, this session seeks to gather contributions that explore the development of professional expertise in the world’s peripheries. Some of the concerns are: How does inter- and intra-professional competition play out in these contexts? How are professional identities forged––and how do they relate to such dimensions as class, gender, and race? What are the local dynamics between established and new professions, and how are they affected by technological change? How do experts relate to the political regimes and types of state intervention in their home countries? Is there something specific about the way professionalism(s) is made in the “Global South”? What is the role of the transnational circulation of ideas and individuals––both “North-South” and “South-South”? How does the international division of (expert) labor relate to the emergence (and crisis) of professional groups? How are more recent processes such as globalization and digitalization reshaping professionalism in these “other” geographies?