Oppressors or Saviours? The Role of Professions in a Changing World

As recognized in the Congress title, the world has seen the resurgence of authoritarianism over the past few decades. This regular oral paper session asks whether the role of professions has added to this trend through the complicity of professional groups in the growth of authoritarianism – either in organizational or wider socio-political contexts. This may be through such mechanisms as casting their role as technocratically neutral or by taking a more proactively oppressive stance in collusion with managers and other leading figures in society. Alternatively, although they have been heavily attacked in recent sociological theory for unswervingly pursing their own self-interests, professions can be seen as our saviours in the fast-changing contemporary world with their distinctive public service orientation marking them out from other occupational groups. In charting the current and future role of professional groups ranging from doctors and lawyers to accountants and architects, amongst others, papers exploring these contradictory themes in the public, private and third sectors in one or more societies are invited. Since such reflections may not always be straight forward, they may include other related themes in the sociology of professions such as hybridisation in face of conflicting institutional imperatives. In this vein, papers considering the role of international professional service firms in contrast to nationally-based professions would also be very welcome.