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

Societies around the world are facing significant changes that affect professions, professional work, and professionals. We live in increasingly complex and interconnected societies, marked by major societal challenges—whether environmental, demographic, health-related, economic, or technological—that directly call upon professional knowledge while simultaneously questioning this knowledge and professional practices. For example, new knowledge is necessary to address environmental issues or technological challenges in various professional fields. The complexity of societal issues requires the mobilization of multiple different expertise areas and closer collaboration between professionals from different disciplinary backgrounds. Professionals are part of organizations that are also undergoing significant changes—new management modes, labor shortages, clientelist logic—that inevitably influence the evolution of professional work. Professions are also transforming from within. We observe significant changes in individuals' aspirations regarding work and the redefinition of the place of work in life, as well as the feminization of certain professions. In light of all these changes, many scholars highlight the emergence of new modes of professionalism and the evolution of professional work. In this open session, we invite researchers to contribute to this reflection on the emergence of new modes of professionalism and the evolution of professional work through various themes, including the following examples: new modes of collaboration, the redefinition of professional boundaries, the utilization of professional roles in a context of pressure and labor shortages, the impact of technology and AI, generational and gender issues, etc.