"‘I think We Can Use MCIPR After Our Name, But I Never Would’: The Modern Professional Re-imagined"

Abstract

This article argues that a new form of profession and professional needs to be considered that incorporates neo-liberal discourses of the entrepreneurial self with traditional professional discourses of credentialism and social closure in the construction of the modern professional. It is based on empirical data from the UK public relations industry that has analysed the construction of a professional subject position by a professional body and its salience in practitioners’ professional identity construction. Its findings contribute to the current debate in the sociology of professions as to whether professionalism is, at worst, in decline or, at best, needing to adapt and be flexible in the wake of the development of professional service firms and growing globalisation and marketisation of professional services. Additionally, the article contributes to the sociology of professions by bridging both the identities and professions literature by using a conceptualisation of professionalisation as constituti...