10.3917/rfsen.532.0147

Abstract

In addition to furthering our knowledge of the “ architectes d’intérieur ” (interior designers), a professional group about which very little is known, the article combines the sociological traditions of neo-Weberian professional group sociology and economic sociology to devise a model for analysing professional groups, thereby suggesting new avenues for investigating professional dynamics. The assumption is that stabilized market organization forms are what give the different professional group configurations their singular characteristics and position them in a given space wherein they can reasonably be compared. The article presents the consecutive forms taken by the group of “ architectes d’intérieur ,” explaining how the division of labour evolved and how these professionals have been competing on the markets for project management services and labour in France since the 1940s. Reflecting on the fit between profession and markets leads to analysing the Anglo-Saxon configuration of the “established profession” as a particular mode of organizing the labour market and integrating professionals into a services market.