The Changing Paradigm of Professions and Professional Groups in the Era of Globalization

Over the years, society has witnessed the emergence and evolution of different professional groups of traditional professions (doctors, teachers, lawyers and others), corporate professionals, technically-skilled professionals (IT, ITES), the business owners, the entrepreneurs like start-up owners, and self-employed professionals such as consultants/freelancers. Each of these professional categories and their knowledge production is affected by the growing techno-culture, global governance and different forms of emerging global authoritarianism.

The changing patterns of professional practices in the globalizing world warrant sociological insights and new theoretical perspectives to understand the challenges in various professional domains and its overall impact on the society. Globalization, global governance coupled with resurgent authoritarianism has raised a number of questions: How do authoritarian norms and routines affect professions, professionals and professional partnerships in the global world? Are professions undergoing transition owing to the emerging features of global governance? Are post-secular societies characterized by the new set of professional competency? Is global governance resulting in new features of totalitarianism affecting the knowledge production and professional practices across the world? Has authoritarianism and features of global governance have changed the professional work environments and practices? How does the notion of ‘multiple secularities’ affect the attributes of professional practices in the global world The proposed session is aimed to explore new sociological insights, empirical knowledge and understanding of the changing paradigm of professional groups in the era of globalization.