The End of the Professions?: The Restructuring of Professional Work

Professions and professional activity are undergoing dramatic changes as we approach the millennium. This interdisciplinary volume presents an overview of conceptual issues and considers the practical issues facing professionals today. Examining the professional areas of medicine, education, law and accountancy, the authors illustrate how the nature of professional activity is changing, and how decision-making power is being shifted away from the holders of specialized knowledge and towards clients and managers. Although this might seem to signify an end to traditional notions of professionalism involving trust, responsibility and self-organisation, they argue that this does not necessarily mean an end to professionalism itself, but rather a shifting of its significance and functioning.