The Struggle for Professionalism

Abstract

It has been argued that the segmentation of the caring professions, their division into hierarchical levels, has occurred over a period of time through a process of increasingly specialised divisions between practice and management. This has taken place within the wider context of these occupations themselves becoming defined and established. To the extent that defining who is a nurse, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist or a social worker also defines who is not, the development of each of these professions represents an example of what Weber called ‘social closure’. That is a ‘process by which social collectivities seek to maximise rewards by restricting access to resources and opportunities to a limited circle of eligibles’ (Parkin, 1979, p. 44). As we have already noted, professions are not types of occupations but historical forms of controlling occupations. The concept of social closure enables the processes of professionalisation to be grasped, and the attempts by occupations to extend their power over their work to be examined.