Essays on Professions

Robert Dingwall is Professor of Sociology and Director of IGBiS at the University of Nottingham, UK. He has edited/authored many books including co-authoring Qualitative Methods and Health Policy Research (2003).

• Contents: Series editor's preface; Foreword; The legacy of Parsons and Hughes; Accomplishing profession; 'Atrocity stories' and professional relationships; 'In the beginning was the work…': reflections on the genesis of occupations; A respectable profession? Sociological and economic perspectives on the regulation of professional services; Closing the market: licensure and English pharmacy, 1794–1868; Herbert Spencer and the professions: occupational ecology reconsidered; Professions and social order in a global society; After the Fall…: capitulating to the routine in professional work; In memory of Eliot Freidson: is 'professional dominance' an obsolete concept?; Endnotes; Bibliography; Indexes.

’For decades Robert Dingwall has been writing some of the most perceptive analyses of modern professions. His work creatively spans both sides of the Atlantic, it engages boldly key issues of social theory, and it wrestles vigorously with broad social processes, not least, globalization. Readers old and new will benefit greatly from the integration of his writings to disparate audiences into a single volume where the collective impact of his ideas will be more fully realized.’ Terry Halliday, American Bar Foundation, USA '[Robert Dingwall] has edited many leading works on professionalism over a period of some three decades. This collection of his essays spans that period and focuses upon a range of themes upon which his contributions have been influential in both sociology and regulatory reform...For those with an interest in professional accountability and the history of professions and their regulation, this makes interesting reading.' Journal of Law and Medicine 'Dingwall's collection continuously reminds us of the broader image of social and professional forms of governance. ... The detailed and very nuanced discussions of classical themes and classical authors in Robert Dingwall's Essays on Professions perhaps first of all make clear that the traditional professions are sociologically relevant as historical categories.' Sociology