Professionalism and Professionalisation

Abstract

The professions represent a privileged group of occupations in society as an outcome of institutional and political histories, the relation between their practitioners and society, and the formalisation of organisational and legal structures surrounding their practice. In this chapter, I focus on the tensions (perhaps inextricably embedded) in the notion of a modern profession, between, on the one hand, the call for a practical wisdom and reflective judgement using one's knowledge in service of some good---a disposition characterised by a form of phronesis---and, on the other hand, the demands of conformity and adherence to forms of protocol mandated to practice within a professional structure.