XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

868

Professionalization, Professional Ethics and Semi-Professions: Emerging Issues in Developing Countries

RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups (host committee)

Language: English

Proessional-groups occupy an important and significant place in the stratification-system of society. The purpose of organising this session is to understand the theoretical and conceptual issues in the study of professons, examine the emergence of professions in the developing countries and to highlight the empirical studies on professions in the developing countries. The theoretical and conceptual understanding of professional groups was first initiated in the western countries. According to such formulations, the professionals are rich people,but they do not work with profit motives. Professionals do services to the society in their own specialized areas for which they take trainning for a long duration of time. Doctorscould be the best example here, but others like lawyers also belong to this category. Professionals work in the areas of their own specializations and thus enjoy a considerable degree of professional autonomy. They are also guided by their own professional ethics. Semi-professionals help the professionals in carrying out their work but do not enjoy such professional autonomy. The sociological studies on professionals have also been done in the developing countries where the problems are somewhat different. The papers are invited in this sessionon the following or the other related themes: (i) theoretical and conceptual issues in the study of professions; (ii) the emergence of the professions as a phenomenon for sociological studies and (iii) empirical studies on professions in developing countries.