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Theoretical Background
Professionalism as value system and as ideology
The concept of ‘professionalism' has had a chequered history of use and contrasting (even contradictory) interpretations in the sociological literature. This section groups the many different interpretations of professionalism into two: as normative value system and as controlling ideology. Professionalism as value system or as ideology can both be seen as operational on macro, (societal, state and market), meso (organizations and institutions) and micro (groups and actors) levels. The most obvious difference is that while professionalism as value system is guardedly optimistic about the positive contributions of the concept to a normative social order, professionalism as ideology focuses more negatively on professionalism as a hegamonic belief system and mechanism of social control for ‘professional' workers. Not surprisingly, professional workers themselves prefer and utilize the normative discourse in their relations with clients, their occupational identities and their work practices.
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